Chinese Taipei claims women's tennis team title
9/12/2006 11:50
The 20-year-old Hsieh Su Wei spearheaded Chinese Taipei to win the women's
team title at the Asian Games tennis tournament early Saturday morning. The
final match, which was postponed until Friday evening due to continual rain
breaks, was battled for four hours into early Saturday morning when Chinese
Taipei beat India 2-1 in the Indian- packed Center Court of the Khalifa
International Tennis and Squash Complex. In the first singles match, India's
Shikha Uberoi, who impressed the crowd with a never-say-die attitude in the
semifinal against Uzbekistan on Wednesday, had some trouble in holding her serve
as Chinese Taipei's Hsieh Su Wei managed to break twice to claim the opening set
6-2 in just 22 minutes. Uberoi failed to hit top gear again in the inception
of the second set, going down at 1-5, but she finally found some groundstrokes
to level it at 5-5 before losing 7-5. "She (Hsieh) played really well and hit
a lot of winners. I did not have a chance," said a disappointed Uberoi. "I
fought in the second set, and it was pretty close at some moment, but it was not
on top of my game. I panicked a little while she was so pushy." In the second
singles match, India's top player and 66th-ranked Sania Mirza had no trouble in
sailing through Chinese Taipei's Chan Yung Jan 6-2, 6-2, helping India level the
score at 1-1. In the doubles match, Hsieh Su Wei partnered with Chuang Chia
Jung to destroy India's Sania Mirza/ Shikha Uberoi 7-6 (2), 6-1. It's the
second time Chinese Taipei took the women's team title at the Asian Games. They
claimed the crown at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, where they beat China in
the final.
Xinhua news
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