Nobody likes to play Hsieh, admits Pliskova

Dubai - It's tough to play her. I don't like to play her, Pliskova said after losing in the quarterfinals

Su-Wei Hsieh may not be a household name, but the 33-year-old player from Taiwan possesses such an unorthodox game that Karolina Pliskova said no-one on the Tour liked to face her.
With a seemingly unassailable 5-1 lead, Pliskova was in unstoppable mood in the third set of the quarterfinal clash at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Thursday.
But Hsieh, the world number 31 who stunned three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber in the third round on Wednesday, somehow crawled her way back, using her spin, slices and drop shots to break the hard-hitting Czech player's rhythm and stage what was a truly incredible fightback.
"It's tough to play her. I don't like to play her. I don't know if there is somebody who likes to play her," Pliskova, the former Dubai runner-up, said after her 6-4 1-6 7-5 quarterfinal defeat on Thursday.
Pliskova, who survived two tough matches to reach the last eight stage having missed her previous tournament due to a viral illness, admitted that she wasn't ready physically for a tricky opponent like Hsieh.
"I was obviously tired today. My legs were not doing much. It was a tough match. Especially to play against her, you need to be ready on the legs a lot, which I was not," the world number five said.
"Maybe also I started to be a little bit more passive in the third set. I thought it's already done because it looked like that. But then she just started to play well," the 26-year-old Czech player added.
"I didn't do anything wrong in the end. Of course, I could do better. I think she just played well in the end, just went for her shots."
Pliskova famously fought back from 5-1 down in the third set of her Australian Open quarterfinal against Serena Williams last month, winning the next six games to stun the American.
And on Thursday, it was Pliskova that found herself at the wrong end of a dramatic third set fightback.
But the former world number one refused to compare Thursday's game to the Australian Open quarterfinal.
"I would not compare these two matches because I think the game was completely different," Pliskova said.
"I was a completely different player against Serena. I just played so much better there. There is nothing to compare."
Pliskova's only previous meeting with Hsieh also had a dramatic finish as she needed to save match points in her three-set win in Miami last year.
"As I said, you're never going to feel the best against her. That's how it is."
rituraj@khaleejtimes.com