Tennis | High seeds Hsieh, Mertens will face Hunter, Siniakova within the Indian Wells closing.

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — High seeds Hsieh Su-Wei and Elise Mertens will face No. 3 seeds Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova within the finals of the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday.

All 4 ladies in Saturday’s closing are present or former doubles world No. 1, having received 83 doubles titles between them. Mertens, Hsieh and Hunter are at present ranked No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 respectively. Mertens and Hunter had been voted to the doubles group of the yr final yr earlier than going their separate methods within the offseason. Hunter paired up with Siniakova shortly after the Czech cut up along with his longtime associate Barbora Krejcikova.

A full-time group for the primary time this season, Hsieh and Mertens started their yr by successful the Australian Open title. She defeated Hunter and Seniakova within the quarterfinals, successful 7–5, 1–6, 6–3 in among the best matches of the event.

Hunter and Seniakova need to seize their second title of the season after successful their first group title on the Dubai Responsibility Free Tennis Championships final month. It’s Hunter’s first journey to the Indian Wells Championship on Saturday and Seniakova’s fourth, who received the title with Krajkova final yr.

The 2021 champions, Hsieh and Mertens superior to their second Indian Wells closing with a 6-2, 7-6(5) win over No. 4 seeds and San Diego champions Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Alan Perez. The win adopted Ghalib’s 6-1, 6-4 win over No. 6 seeds Demi Shovers and Louisa Stefani within the quarterfinals.

As they face one another for the second time this season, neither group has misplaced a set within the California desert. Hunter and Seniakova defeated Asia Muhammad and Anna Shibahara 6-4, 6-4 to succeed in their second consecutive WTA 1000 closing. The Australian-Czech duo took a 3-0 lead within the first set and dominated the remainder of the match with their aggressive play.