INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Top seeds Hsieh Su-Wei and Elise Mertens won their second BNP Paribas Open doubles title after defeating No.3 seeds Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova 6-3, 6-4 in the final on Sunday. 

The title is Mertens' 20th career doubles title and Hsieh's 34th. This is the fourth Indian Wells title for Hsieh and her second with Mertens. The two first lifted the trophy together in 2021. Hsieh also won the title in 2014 (w/ Peng) and 2018 (w/ Strycova). Mertens has now won Indian Wells three times, having won her first with Aryna Sabalenka in 2019.

"It was a little bit special this year, because I didn't play this tournament for a while, and I was sick since Qatar, so I haven't practiced a lot," Hsieh said. "And I couldn't do any exercise because the doctor suggest to me do not do any sport."

The reigning Australian Open champions capped off a dominating fortnight in the desert, as the duo ran through the draw without losing a set. Hsieh and Mertens defeated No.6 seeds Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani, No.4 seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez, and the No.3 seeds on Sunday to win their second team title of the year. 

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Saturday's final was the season's second meeting between Hsieh/Mertens and Hunter/Siniakova. The two faced off in the Australian Open semifinals, where Hsieh/Mertens won 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 on their way to the title. Hunter and Siniakova captured their first team title of the year last month at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

After exchanging breaks to start the match, both teams protected their serves until Hsieh and Mertens broke Siniakova at love for a 5-3 lead. Mertens fired a clean backhand winner up the line to seal the break and then served out the set.

The second set went with the server with no break points generated until 4-4. Hsieh fired a perfectly read backhand winner to earn break points on Hunter's serve and the eventual champions converted and closed out the 70-minute victory. 

"Very happy about our game today," Mertens said. "I think a lot of things worked. We were there from the beginning. Only lost our serve once, it was actually my serve.

"Yeah, I think we were really there. Also, especially on the second set, we didn't drop anything. She had an amazing point in the 4-4. In that game she had an amazing point which really helped."