Miami: The Miami Open lost two of its biggest drawcards Saturday with World No.1 Naomi Osaka suffering a shock third-round loss to Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei after eight-time champion Serena Williams withdrew due to a knee injury.
The 33-year-old Hsieh came from a set down to prevail 4-6, 7-6(7-4), 6-3 as her unorthodox style frustrated, perplexed and finally wore down US and Australian Open champion Osaka.
Osaka had lost in the fourth round at Indian Wells and could lose her No.1 ranking depending on how others do in the tournament, said the mental side of her game had let her down.
“I just think I got too emotional, which is something I did in last match, too,” she said. “I would just say I was kind of immature today. I was thinking too much.”
Hsieh had lost her two previous matches with Osaka, including a hard-fought contest in Melbourne in January, but came back from a break down in each of the last two sets, saving eight of the 12 break points she faced.
The Taiwanese had knocked out then World No.1 Simona Halep at Wimbledon last year and again demonstrated her range of clever shot making against a much more powerful opponent.
Osaka had won 63 straight matches after taking the first set but Hsieh’s victory brought that run to an end and set up a fourth round meeting with Caroline Wozniacki, who beat Romanian qualifier Monica Niculescu 6-4, 7-6(7-4).
The stunning upset came after the tournament had earlier lost American great Williams to a left knee injury. It is the second consecutive WTA event she has been forced to retire from after she withdrew from last week’s tournament in Indian Wells with a viral illness
Earlier, World No.2 Petra Kvitova needed three sets and more than two and a half hours to beat Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in a clash of heavy hitters.
The two-time Wimbledon champion will meet Caroline Garcia in the fourth round after the Frenchwoman knocked out 15th seeded German Julia Goerges 6-0, 7-5.
Canadian Bianca Andreescu continued her rapid rise with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 victory over former World No.1 Angelique Kerber. Seventh seed Kiki Bertens also prevailed over Viktoria Kuzmova 3-6, 6-0, 6-1.