The Canadian and number 8 seed was sent packing by the world number 71.
World No.8 Bianca Andreescu has been knocked out of the Australian Open in straight sets by Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Tapei.
The former US Open champion was on the back footing throughout her 6-3, 6-2, loss to the world No.71 who has now has an impressive 8-2 winning record against top 10 opposition. Andreescu, who was playing in her first tournament since the end of 2019 due to injury, leaked a costly 25 unforced errors and could only win 26% of her second service points.
“She played really well. I have to give credit to her. And, yeah, I definitely have to get back into the groove of things, and hopefully that will be sooner than later,” the Canadian said afterwards.
Fast start for Hsieh
The world number 71 went on the offensive from the word play and earned the first break point of the match with a stunning backhand winner. She would break with that exact same shot on the following point to take a 1-0 lead.
After holding serve she was hungry for more and had more break points thanks to another unforced error from the Canadian and would break when the Missisauga native served a double fault for the 3-0 lead.
She would serve out the first set to take it 6-3 and was a set away from pulling off an upset.
Hsieh battles for the big win
The begining of the second set was much like the first with the world number 71 holding her opening service games and earning three break points as the Canadian was struggling to get anything going and was making a lot of errors.
She would break and hold for another 3-0 lead but the world number 8 started to show signs of fight and after holding serve had chances to break to go back on serve with a beauty of a forehand return winner.
Andreescu would break back when she returned Hsieh serve down the line with her powerful forehand to go back on serve at 3-2. The world number 71 responded immediately in the following service game with the Canadian trying to consolidate the break.
Hsieh would break once again with a return winner to go back up 4-2 and would hold serve before once again pushing for the win. With Andreescu serving to stay in the match she faced a couple match points which she would save before double faulting on the third to give Hsieh the win.
After the match in an on-court interview, Hsieh gave her thoughts on pulling off another impressive upset.
“They have all the skill in the court so you need to find a way to get through and play your game, it’s always not easy but the crowd is always the best for us to keep fighting here”.
