TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese tennis star Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and Belgian partner Elise Mertens advanced to the women's doubles quarterfinals at the 2021 U.S. Open after beating the Belgian duo Greet Minnen and Alison Van Uytvanck in the third round 6-0 and 6-2 on Monday (Sept. 6).

Hsieh and Mertens were on a roll with winning volleys right from the get-go, CNA reported. After breaking three serves in a row, the Taiwanese-Belgian duo had an advantage of three set points at the sixth game before Mertens served out the set with an ace to win 6-0.

In the second set, the two sides held their respective serves in the first four games. In the fifth game, Hsieh and her Belgian partner tried six times to break serve to no avail before Hsieh succeeded with a volley on their seventh breakpoint.

The duo broke their opponents’ serve again in the seventh game to lead 5-2.

In the eighth game, with Hsieh serving, they missed two of their three match points but were able to finally close the game by forcing their opponents to sail their return long, according to CNA.

In the 56-minute match, Hsieh and Mertens won 92% of their first serves compared to their opponents’ 53%, and the Taiwanese-Belgian pair had only nine unforced errors, 10 fewer than their opponents. The only blemish on this near-perfect game was that Hsieh and Mertens had a total of 15 breakpoints throughout the game, but their conversion rate was only 33%.

Hsieh, 35, is currently ranked No. 2 in the world in women’s doubles. She and Mertens won the Wimbledon women's doubles title in July. They are the top seed at the U.S. Open.

In the previous three rounds, the duo did not drop any sets and only lost eight games. So far, they have not encountered much resistance in their quest for the second title.

The Taiwanese player's next goal is to advance to the semifinals, where she hopes to best the record she set in the U.S. Open in 2012.

In the singles game this year, Hsieh was stopped in the second round.

Hsieh Su-wei (left) and her Belgian partner Elise Mertens (Facebook, Dreamwalker.SwHsieh photo)