Elise Mertens won her first Premier title in Doha after edging out Simona Halep 3-6 6-4 6-3 in a dramatic final.
The Belgian played some aggressive tennis as she tired out Simona Halep to win her first ever premier-level title of her career.
After a long medical time-out which lasted about eight minutes since the last point, Mertens came back from a set and a break to seal a great title which involved beating three top 10 players.
Despite losing a gruelling final, Halep will move back up to world number two heading into next week’s Premier 5 event in Dubai.
It was all about Halep for the first set and a quarter as she dictated the rallies with some sensation backhand shots, using her movement well.
Although there was good returning from Mertens, she couldn’t break down a very good Halep who just looked in control of every point.
After four breaks of serve, the Romanian inched closer towards the title as she took the first set 6-3 in 35 minutes. The Belgian needed to improve her first set to have a chance of winning the title.
The second set started with a share of breaks as Halep looked in fighting-fit shape to seal her first title of 2019 after a great week of tennis.
Then came the major talking point of the match as Mertens took an off-court medical time-out as the match didn’t restart until eight minutes later.
That would be the turning of the match as the Belgian controlled the match from that point onwards with some aggressive backhands and some neat serving.
As a result Halep’s momentum had been taken away as she struggled to cope with the break and couldn’t find her rhythm back.
With many break points not being converted by either player the world number 21 struck in the ninth game with a break to love and converted her first set point in the next game to force a decider.
After a Halep medical time-out, Mertens broke on the first game and a crucially long service hold was the big boost that the unseeded player needed.
It wasn’t to be Simona’s day as a third break in the set secured the best win of Mertens’ career so far to lift the Doha title.
😘🏆@elise_mertens #QTO2019 pic.twitter.com/5l9Bq4kjax
— wta (@WTA) February 16, 2019
After a disappointing Fed Cup campaign for Belgium, Mertens beat Kiki Bertens, Angelique Kerber and Halep today to ensure the best week of her career.
As for Halep she will return to world number two as the emotions of last weekend and the brutal wins of Julia Goerges and Elina Svitolina caught up with her today.
