Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) is set to reclaim the top spot in women’s doubles tennis today after she and her partner Elise Mertens of Belgium on Saturday defeated their opponents 6-3, 6-4 in the BNP Paribas Open final in Indian Wells, California.
The top-seeded duo dispatched No. 3 seeds Storm Hunter of Australia and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic to claim their first trophy together at Indian Wells since 2021.
“It felt quite special this year, because I hadn’t played the tournament for a while, and I was sick since Qatar, so I haven’t practiced a lot,” 38-year-old Hsieh said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Hsieh returned from injury in April last year, after having not played a tournament since she and Mertens lost to Czech duo Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova at the WTA Finals in November 2021.
On Saturday, Hsieh and Mertens had their serve broken in the first game, but broke their opponents’ serve in the next.
Hsieh and Mertens ended the set after winning 10 straight points.
The second set was deadlocked until the ninth game when Hsieh and Mertens broke their opponents’ serve again.
Hsieh and Mertens defeated Hunter and Siniakova in the semi-finals on their way to claim the Australian Open women’s double title this year. They also won Wimbledon together in 2021.
Hsieh also took home the Australian Open mixed doubles title this year with Poland’s Jan Zielinski, becoming Melbourne’s first double-doubles champion since Rennae Stubbs in 2000.
Hsieh has now won four women’s doubles titles at Indian Wells.
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