Elise Mertens continued her perfect record at the Jasmin Open in Tunisia by dropping only three games against the top seed in the final on Sunday.
The world No.36 stormed to a comprehensive 6-3, 6-0, win over Italy’s Jasmine Polini who was the No.1 seed in a WTA event for the first time in her career. Mertens’ dominant performance saw the Belgian win 10 games in a row en route to winning the tournament for the second year in a row. Overall, she has now won eight WTA titles in her career and has registered 43 wins over seeded players on the Tour.
Mertens, who has been ranked as high as 12th in the world, didn’t drop a set in the entire tournament. Earlier in the week she recorded wins over Alexandra Eala, Iryna Shymanovich, Mai Hontama and Clara Burel. A much-needed confidence boost for the 27-year-old who had only reached the semi-final stage in one out of her last 21 tournaments played before this week.
As a result of her triumph, Mertens will return inside the world’s top 30 on Monday.
Siniakova survives marathon
Elsewhere, at the Jiangxi Open in China, Katerina Siniakova prevailed in a marathon battle that lasted more than three-and-a-half hours to capture her fifth WTA trophy.
The Czech ousted third seed and compatriot Marie Bouzkova 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(4) in a roller-coaster encounter. Siniakova was down a set and 2-4 before clawing her way back to take the match into a decider. She then had to save two match points whilst down 4-5 in the third set before claiming victory.
“This final was an amazing atmosphere,” said Siniakova. “I also need to say congrats to Marie because it was a really tough match. It’s just sad that one can win because it’s not fair. Congratulations. You deserve better.”
Nanchang is the second tournament in a row that Siniakova has reached the final after Hong Kong where she was runner-up to Leylah Fernandez.
