ANGELIQUE KERBER lived up to her billing as tournament favourite with a hard-fought win over Hsieh Su-Wei.
2016 champion Kerber had to come from behind to win a wonderful match against the unorthodox Taiwanese player.
Hsieh, who had already put out Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza and seed Agnieszka Radwanska, once more played some spellbinding tennis.
The 32 year old, a two-time Grand Slam doubles champion, has a variety and touch to her game which is a breath of fresh air in the era of baseline big-hitters.
But Kerber showed the grit and determination of a champion, as well as the quality, to avoid going the same way as Hsieh’s previous victims..
Kerber said: “Credit to her, she played an unbelievable match.
“I was running everywhere and she always had the answer. We will see a lot from here in 2018, that’s for sure.
“It was a very good match from the first point.”
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It was the kind of match which the Kerber of 2017 would almost certainly have lost.
Hsieh recovered from a break down to take the first set and hit back after Kerber had moved ahead in the second.
Even when the German levelled the match and then broke serve in the first game of the decider, the Taiwanese went again.
It was only after Kerber completed a run of three breaks in a row that Hsieh seemed to fade a little, but she kept playing her way right until the end.
Kerber will face a very different kind of opponent in the quarter finals.
US Open finalist Madison Keys easily disposed of Caroline Garcia 6-3 6-2 and will bring her big game to what should be another great encounter.
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