Last year’s WTA Finals runners-up Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez came back from one set down to beat Hsieh-su Wei and Elise Mertens 1-6 6-1 10-6 in the first round robin doubles match of the Green Group at the WTA Finals in Riyadh.
Su-wei and Mertens raced out to a 4-0 lead in the first set with a double break in the first and third games. They held their next two service games and sealed the opening set with a break on their set points. Melichar Martinez and Perez broke three times to win the second set 6-1 setting up a hard-fought match tie-break. Melichar and Perez won five of the last six points to seal the win after 70 minutes.
Melichar and Perez avenged their defeat against Hsieh and Mertens, who won their previous head-to-head clash by their scoreline of 6-2 7-6 (7-5) at Indian Wells.
Melichar and Perez now lead 1-0 in Green Group that features number 1 seeds Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmila Kichenok and number 8 seeds Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova.
“I thought it was super important just to compete. Everyone can play good tennis here, and it’s just finding ways to win, getting balls in the court and competing. I think we did a good job of that to be able to fight back”, said Perez.
