Second seed Misaki Doi needed just 54 minutes to dispatch home favourite and sixth seed Hsieh Su-Wei 6-0, 6-2, to advance to the final of the 2016 Taiwan Open - which will be just the second of the 24-year-old's career. In the showpiece, Doi will meet the winner of the match between top seed Venus Williams and third seed Yulia Putintseva.

Doi Races Through Opening Set in 19 Minutes

Beginning the match on the offensive, it was no surprise that Doi was looking to get the first strike against Hsieh, which is a great tactic to use against someone who hits as flat as the Taiwanese woman. Opening proceedings with a hold at love, the Japanese woman sent a clear statement of intent. Hsieh, on the other hand, looked flat, and had no answers to Doi's deceptively effective forehand, and made an uncharacteristic number of unforced errors to hand the second seed the early break. From there, Doi continued to assert her authority, holding at love to consolidate the early break. Things quickly went from bad to worse for Hsieh as she couldn't seem to find any rhythm behind her first serve, nor could she find any consistency on her ground strokes. Within a matter of minutes, Doi went from a break up to a double break up as the Taiwanese number one looked shell shocked, not knowing what else she could do to trouble Doi instead of using her signature variety that had failed her so miserably in this set. Doi, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind as she closed out the opening set at the second time of asking, sealing a blowout opening set 6-0.

Photo: Emmanuel Wong/Getty Images AsiaPac
Photo: Emmanuel Wong/Getty Images AsiaPac

More of the Same from Doi in Set Number Two

The second set began in contrast to the first as Hsieh seemed to be finding her groove when falling the risk of going down a set and a break. After exchanging a pair of holds, the passionate Taiwanese fans were hoping to see a late fight back from the home favourite, but to no avail. Unfazed by the slight shift in momentum, Doi responded with a hold of her own, and was soon rewarded with a pair of break points. This time, she made no mistake at the first time of asking, drawing first blood as more and more unforced errors crept into Hsieh's game. From there, Doi would go on to consolidate the break to mount a sizeable set and 4-1 advantage with the help of some exceptional serving, one of the many keys to her success against Hsieh today. With the help of some good fortune, both women would go on to hold their following service games, respectively, but it was only a matter of time until the Japanese woman began to force the issue upon her Taiwanese counterpart once again. Despite Hsieh's best efforts, she was no match for Doi's power and precision as when push came to shove, the former faltered while the latter soared. After only 54 minutes of play, it was the second seed who came out on top, defeating the sixth seed 6-0, 6-2 to book her place in just her second WTA singles final.

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About the author
Max Gao
Max Gao is a sports writer specializing in tennis and the Toronto Blue Jays, who has also written on the Rogers Cup website as a guest contributor in the past.