Monastir (Tunisia): Belgium’s Elise Mertens charged past Alize Cornet of France 6-2, 6-0 to claim the Jasmin Open and her first title of the season, here on Sunday.
No.5 seed Mertens captured her seventh career title after the 80-minute match, reeling off the last 11 games of the affair. She also edged ahead 3-2 in her head-to-head against Cornet with the victory.
“It means a lot. I had a pretty tough year. When they said I was in my first semifinal this year, I was like, ‘OK, it’s October, it’s never too late to start the year, or end the year with a good one.” So I’m very happy about it,” Mertens said after her win.
“It gives you confidence, and it gives you a little boost for all the work that you do. Never stop believing, I guess, and I have my seventh title,” he added.
The first WTA Tour event in Tunisia helped turn around the season for former World No.12 Mertens, who had reached only two quarterfinals in 2022 coming into Monastir, and lost both.
This week, Mertens reached her first final since Istanbul in April of last year, and she claimed her first title since winning Melbourne’s Gippsland Trophy over Kaia Kanepi in February of last year.
The 26-year-old Mertens dropped two sets en route to the final, but on Sunday she was totally in charge, winning 83 percent of her first-service points. Mertens converted five of her nine break points and saved all three of the breakpoints she faced.
Cornet matched Mertens with 10 winners, but she had seven more unforced errors than the Belgian, including a number of ill-timed patches of double faults. Cornet finished the match with nine double faults in total, while Mertens had just one.
After saving two break points in a hold for 2-2, Mertens grabbed hold of the match in the next game, converting her fourth break point to lead 3-2 and never looking back from there. A rally overhead winner gave Mertens a second break and a 5-2 lead, and the Belgian served out the opening set.
In the second set, an amazing angled pass gave Mertens a breakpoint for a 3-0 lead, which Cornet ceded after slamming an overhead into the net. Two games later, a volley-winner gave Mertens a 5-0 advantage, and she finished off the clash with a routine love hold to take home the title.
–IANS