British qualifier Heather Watson battled past top seed and 2017 Australian Open semifinalist Elise Mertens 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 7-5 to reach the semifinal at the Hobart International tournament.
Watson earned an early break in the second game to open up a 4-1 lead. Mertens, who won the Hobart tournament in 2017 and 2018, reeled off three consecutive games to draw level to 4-4. Mertens won four of the last six points to claim the tie-break 7-5.
Mertens went up a break twice in the second set but Watson came back by winning the final four games with two consecutive breaks to force a decider before rain showers stopped play three times in the eighth game of the set.
The third set featured seven breaks of serve and six deuce games. Mertens went up a break twice to take 2-0 and 3-1 leads. The Belgian player went down a break at 4-3, but she came back by winning three consecutive games to take a 5-4 lead. Watson, who won the Hobart title in 2015, earned the decisive break in the 11th game to take a 6-5 lead and fended off two break points before serving out the match at deuce.
Watson came through to the main draw as a qualifier. The British player set up a semifinal against third seed Elena Rybakina, who came back from one set down to beat Australia’s Lizette Cabrera 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-2) 7-5 after 2 hours and 37 minutes.
“I have played Elise before this, and she has beaten me every time. I am very happy with how I played today, especially under the circumstances. I thought it was a big test for me against a top player, one I had never beaten before. I stayed there, I fought every point, no matter how far down I was in the score, whether it was 40-0 in a game or 4-2 with a break. I wanted to make a sure I gave everything I had today, win or lose”, said Watson.
Former Hobart champion Garbine Muguruza pulled out of the Hobart tournament before her quarter final clash against Veronika Kudermetova due to a viral illness. Muguruza beat Wang Yafan in the first round before saving a match point to beat Ons Jabeur in the second rond on Wednesday.
