LONDON • It was a bumper day for Asian players at Wimbledon, in particular those from Chinese Taipei, as their leading pair captured both the women's doubles and the mixed doubles titles despite an agonising wait in between.
Hsieh Su-wei and Czech partner Barbora Strycova beat Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski and China's Xu Yifan 6-2, 6-4 in Sunday's final, but they had to wait to get on Centre Court as the men's singles final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer lasted a record 4hr 57min.
Hsieh coped with the waiting by nervously eating, scoffing down bananas, chocolate cookies, two potatoes and a plate of vegetables.
The Taiwanese was, however, "glad" that Wimbledon changed the rules by introducing a final-set tiebreaker at 12-12 at this tournament, otherwise she would "keep eating and get fat".
However, the binge eating failed to slow her nor her immaculate striking down as Hsieh and Strycova became the first Wimbledon pair not to drop a set en route to the crown since sister duo Venus and Serena Williams did it 10 years ago.
That prompted a double celebration with compatriot Latisha Chan who earlier partnered Croat Ivan Dodig to clinch the mixed doubles trophy after a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Latvian Jelena Ostapenko and Sweden's Robert Lindstedt.
It was the pair's maiden triumph at Wimbledon, continuing their formidable run, having already lifted two successive French Opens.
Teenager Shintaro Mochizuki also made history, becoming the first Japanese player to clinch a junior boys' Grand Slam title, beating Carlos Gimeno Valero of Spain 6-3, 6-2 in the final.
Following in the footsteps of then 18-year-old Kazuko Sawamatsu, who secured both the Wimbledon and French Open girls' titles in 1969, the 16-year-old revealed he had learnt a lot from compatriot and world No. 7 Kei Nishikori. Praising the 2014 US Open finalist as "really nice", Mochizuki said: "He gives me a lot of advice. Sometimes, I practise with him. Yeah, he's smart."
Nishikori duly returned the compliment, tweeting his "huge congrats (for) such an amazing tournament".
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, NY TIMES
