TENNIS/Hsieh, Mertens secure spot in women's doubles finals at Indian Wells

Taipei, March 15 (CNA) Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and partner Elise Mertens secured a spot in the women's doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday after dispatching America's Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Australia's Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (5) at Indian Wells.

Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents' serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second set.

Both teams could muster only one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided in a tiebreaker.

Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead in the tiebreaker and despite wasting two match points on serve, they won the next point and the match.

Seeded first at Indian Wells, the Taiwanese-Belgian duo will play third-seeded Storm Hunter of Australia and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic on Saturday (Pacific Daylight Time) in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament.

Hsieh and Mertens topped Hunter and Siniakova in the semifinals of the Australian Open this year.

If Hsieh and Mertens win at Indian Wells, it would be Hsieh's fourth women's doubles title there, having won in 2014, 2018, and 2021 with different partners. The 2021 title was won with Mertens.

A victory would also return the 38-year-old Hsieh to the No. 1 ranking in women's doubles.