Hsieh and Wang win French Open women's doubles after beating Fernandez and Townsend
PARIS (AP) — Unseeded Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan and Wang Xinyu of China won the French Open women's doubles on Sunday after beating 10th-seeded Leylah Fernandez of Canada and Taylor Townsend of the United States 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1.
It was another upset victory for Hsieh and Wang after they beat sixth-seeded Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez to reach the final, and three other seeded pairs before that.
The feat was made more remarkable by the fact it was only their second tournament together after teaming up at Strasbourg last month.
"We were not thinking too much about winning or losing," Wang said. “We were just really enjoying each other’s company on court.”
The 37-year-old Hsieh is now a five-time Grand Slam doubles champion — with the other three coming at Wimbledon. Hsieh and Peng Shuai won the women’s doubles title at the 2014 French Open.
Hsieh had not played a Slam since 2021 due to injury and was doubtful she could even play at Roland Garros.
“It's very special because I was not expecting to play (here) and don’t know who I play with," Hsieh said. "Because at this time on the clay-court season, the middle of the year or something like this, it’s hard to find a partner.”
She found the perfect one in the 21-year-old Wang, whose first major came on her Roland Garros debut.
It was the first major final in doubles for Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open singles runner-up.
Townsend, in her only Slam final, was runner-up with Caty McNally at last year’s U.S. Open doubles to Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková.
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