Elise Mertens and Su-Wei-Hsieh won their second title of the season

The reigning Australian Open champions, who have a total of 56 doubles titles between them, added title no. 3 to their collection since joining forces earlier this year.

Reflecting on their win at Edgbaston Priory Club, Mertens said: “I’ve already played two doubles finals here and lost them all, so I’m really happy to win this one.

“Birmingham is of course very important before Wimbledon and for us to get this title will give us confidence in it.

“We enjoyed our week here. We’ve had great weather and a great atmosphere, so I just want to say thank you to the city of Birmingham.”

The Belgium and Taiwan partnership galloped through the first set, showing power behind their first and second serves to immediately find the double break.

Although Kato and Zhang did well to get an early game on the board in the second, Mertens and Hsieh remained critical, exploiting any hint of weakness in the Japanese and Chinese duo.

With a second double bank break advantage, the top speeds sprinted to the finish line, conjuring four championship points at work.

However, four championship points were won and lost by Mertens and Hsieh as their opponents recovered one of their service breaks against them.

But the Grand Slam champions did not make the same mistake for the fifth time as they secured their fourth consecutive straight sets win to lift the title after just an hour of play.

See all the results and highlights from Rothesay Classic Birmingham 2024