The defending WTA Finals runners-up are off and running in Riyadh with a win. 

No.6 seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez bounced back from a one-sided first set to defeat No.3 seeds Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens in the first round-robin match of the WTA Finals Riyadh presented by PIF 1-6, 6-1, [10-6]. 

WTA Finals Riyadh: Scores | Schedule | Standings

The first two sets in the opening Green Group match were completed in less than an hour, as both winning teams sprinted out to 4-0 leads. That set the stage for a tense match tiebreak, where the American-Aussie pair won five of the last six points to wrap up the 70-minute victory.

"I thought it was super important just to compete," Perez said post-match. "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."

It reversed the result of the only match between the two teams in 2024: a 6-2, 7-6(5) victory for Hsieh and Mertens at Indian Wells, where they won the title.

Melichar-Martinez and Perez now boast a perfect start in a Green Group that also features No.1 seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko, and No.8 seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend.

Must See

"Elise, I think she only missed one ball in the first set," Melichar-Martinez said. "We just tried to regroup, and tell each other, 'This is working, this is working,' even though it wasn't really working that much, just try and get a few more balls in the court, and hopefully they miss some."

Melichar-Martinez and Perez ended the match with 17 winners to 16 unforced errors, with Hsieh and Mertens hitting just 10 winners to 16 unforced errors.