Taiwan's Hsieh, Belgian partner win doubles trophy at Indian Wells Open

Taipei, Oct. 17 (CNA) Taiwanese tennis ace Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her Belgian partner Elise Mertens took home the women's doubles trophy at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California on Saturday, after beating Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.

The Taiwanese-Belgian duo defeated the Russian-Kazakhstan pair 7-6(1), 6-3 in the one-hour, 34-minute championship match to earn US$414,500 in prize money.

The victory meant Mertens has successfully defended her women's doubles title at the BNP Paribas Open, also known as the Indian Wells Open, despite doing it with a different partner this year.

It was Hsieh's third title in the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. She had won the title with Peng Shuai of China in 2014 and with Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic in 2018.

This was also the second doubles title the Hsieh-Mertens pair won this year, following their win at Wimbledon in July.

"It was a really tight first set," said Mertens after the victory.

"I think it could have gone either way, but I think at the tiebreak we played more solid than them.

"They put their first serve in and it was definitely difficult to get the advantage. We tried to play aggressive -- Su-Wei at the net, me from the back so she can cross. It all clicked a little bit better in the second set," Mertens said.

The BNP Paribas Open normally takes place in March but was postponed this year due to COVID-19.

The tournament is a Masters 1000 event on the men's tour and is a WTA 1000 event on the women's tour.