Melbourne [Australia] : Hsieh Su-wei and Jan Zielinski scripted an epic comeback to claim the Australian Open mixed doubles title, outlasting No.2 seeds Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski on Friday in Melbourne.
The Taiwanese-Polish pair trailed Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski by a set and a break but survived a match point in the Match Tie-break to win 6-7(5), 6-4, 11-9.
“It was exciting and my partner is very good. I know he’s very good from the baseline, at the net, and the serve. I just need to do my stuff to put the ball inside the court and pass the net person. This is my job, very clear. He’s doing his job so I’m doing my job and we’re doing good,” Hsieh said in the champions’ press conference as quoted by WTA.
On Rod Laver Arena, Hsieh and Zielinski rallied from a set and a break behind at 7-6, 4-2, winning four games in a row to take the second set and set up a match tiebreak.
Hsieh and Zielinski then led 4-0 and 6-2 in the breaker, but Krawczyk and Skupski produced a spirited rally to tie the score. Krawczyk and Skupski even had a championship point (9-8) when Skupski hit two consecutive aces.
However, a pair of overhead wins by Hsieh and Zielinski gave their team a championship point at 10-9, which they scored after Skupski’s netted volley. From then, it was all Hsih/Zielinski, with a three-point run to finish the match. They won the championship with only one set loss in the competition, having proceeded to the final with four straight-set victories.
Hsieh might add another crown to her Grand Slam title tally later this weekend since she is also in the women’s doubles final with Elise Mertens. Hsieh has won four Wimbledon titles and two Roland Garros crowns, but she is aiming for her first Australian Open triumph in women’s doubles.
“Thanks to my partner. We didn’t know until the last minute who we were going to play mixed doubles with. I was looking until the very last day, or second-to-last day. We found each other on the ‘looking’ list and it worked out pretty well. So maybe we can keep it going for the next couple of tournaments. It was a great run,” Zielinski said during the trophy ceremony.
