Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) 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.
Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker.
Photo: AFP
Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead, 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 are to play third seeds Storm Hunter of Australia and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic today in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament.
Hsieh and Mertens topped Hunter and Siniakova in the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January.
If Hsieh and Mertens triumph, it would be Hsieh’s fourth women’s doubles title at Indian Wells, having won in 2014, 2018 and 2021 with different partners. The 2021 title was won with Mertens.
A victory would also return 38-year-old Hsieh to the world No. 1 ranking in women’s doubles.
In the men’s singles, Carlos Alcaraz survived a swarm of bees that caused a nearly two-hour delay and went on to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Alexander Zverev to reach the semi-finals.
Alcaraz swatted at the bees buzzing around him before running for cover and the match was suspended 19 minutes in with Alcaraz serving tied at 1-1.
Dozens of bees attached themselves to the overhead spider camera that traverses the court and a man without any protective covering used a vacuum to clean them off. The bee vacuumer was summoned to the court with a spray bottle that he used to douse seats and the walls around the court.
The match resumed after a delay of 1 hour, 48 minutes. The actual playing time was 1:29.
Jannik Sinner defeated Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-3 to extend his winning streak to 16 consecutive matches this year. He is to play Alcaraz in the semis today.
Sinner’s run includes the Australian Open title he won in January. The Italian is 19-0 overall dating to last year’s Davis Cup. He has won 21 of his past 22 sets.
“You earn these things by working hard and believing,” Sinner said in a Tennis Channel interview. “I’m just glad to be in this equation. It doesn’t matter if you’re 16-0 or whatever.”
Sinner made just four unforced errors in the first set, while Lehecka had 17 miscues.
Sinner got the lone break in the second set in the fourth game with a backhand winner. Lehecka erased Sinner’s first match point in the eighth game, before Sinner converted his fourth match point in serving it out.
“I’ve improved many things which makes me more confident on the court,” Sinner said.
Tommy Paul rallied past ninth seed Casper Ruud 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 to reach his second career Masters 1000 semi-final.
The American won 25 points at the net, which was part of his game plan.
“It was to play aggressive, come out and play my game and make him uncomfortable, especially on the pressure points,” Paul said. “I broke the [racket] string on match point and I was like: ‘Oh no,’ and kind of rushed the net and hoped for the best.”
Paul is to play fourth seed Daniil Medvedev in the other semi-final. Medvedev defeated Holger Rune 7-5, 6-4.
In the women’s singles, world No. 1 Iga Swiatek rallied from a 1-4 deficit in the first set and advanced when Caroline Wozniacki quit their quarter-final.
Coco Gauff defeated Yuan Yue 6-4, 6-3, despite 17 double faults against seven aces.
Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine defeated Russia’s Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 7-5 for the first time in three career meetings to also reach the semi-finals.
Maria Sakkari outlasted Emma Navarro, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 for the final slot in the semis.
Swiatek was leading 6-4 and had just broken Wozniacki to open the second set when the Dane retired because of a foot issue. She had jammed a toenail on her foot earlier in the tournament and had a trainer retape it between sets.
Swiatek advanced to the semis for the third straight year in the California desert, having dropped just 14 games in her matches so far. Wozniacki was in the seventh tournament of her comeback since retiring three-and-a-half-years ago, marrying and having two children.
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