MELBOURNE, Australia — The tennis court becomes a fun house mirror when the player across the net is Hsieh Su-Wei, the queen of the overhead drop shot, whose wicked spins, clever angles and two-handed shots from both sides can rattle her opponents. Naomi Osaka, a three-time Grand Slam champion, sighed audibly on Sunday when informed that her reward for fending off two match points against Garbine Muguruza was a meeting with Hsieh, who clinched her place in the quarterfinals while Osaka was struggling to solve the problem that was Muguruza. “She’s one of those players that, for me, if it was a video game, I would want to select her character just to play her,” Osaka, the 2019 champion, said. “Because my mind can’t fathom the choices she makes when she’s on the court.”Osaka, 23, added, “It’s not fun to play her, but it’s really fun to watch.”Hsieh, 35, is more accomplished in doubles, where she and her partner, Barbora Strycova, arrived at Melbourne Park as the top seeds and exited in the second round. A three-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, Hsieh had never advanced to the quarterfinals in singles in 37 prior Grand Slam singles main draw appearances.

Source: New York Times February 15, 2021 15:22 UTC