Elise Mertens has spectacularly reached the final of the WTA tournament in Rosmalen on Saturday. The Belgian tennis player survived eleven match points against Ekaterina Alexandrova. Also in the men’s tournament is a Belgian in the final: Zizou Bergs faces Gabriel Diallo.
Mertens initially seemed to have no chance. Alexandrova won the first set within half an hour and got her first match points in the second set at 5-4 on Mertens’ (WTA-25) serve.
The Belgian tied the score by erasing five match points, but was not out of danger yet. Alexandrova (WTA-19) later in the set got six more match points. The Russian, who won the Rosmalen grass tournament in 2022 and 2023, succumbed to the pressure at the decisive moments and made many mistakes.
Mertens forced the tiebreak and translated her mental advantage into set win. In the decisive set, she struck on her second match point. She had not reached the last four in Rosmalen before.
In the final, Mertens will play against Elena-Gabriela Ruse on Sunday. The Romanian defeated the Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the second semi-final, who had won in the quarter-finals of Suzan Lamens: 2-6, 6-4 and 6-3.
In the third set, Ruse quickly ran out to a 5-2 lead. She seemed to be able to finish the match easily, until the nerves struck. Ruse missed three match points on her own serve, but at the fourth she still forced Cocciaretto to make a mistake.
Bergs stops service cannon Opelka
Also in the men’s tournament in Rosmalen, a Belgian has reached the final. Zizou Bergs (ATP-63) put an end to the remarkable tournament of Reilly Opelka. The towering American (2.11 meters) was initially eliminated in the qualifying tournament, but was allowed to participate as a lucky loser. He then defeated Jesper de Jong, among others, on the way to the semi-finals.
In that semi-final, service cannon Opelka, number 87 in the world, was no match for Bergs, who won in two sets (6-1 and 6-4). The match lasted just over an hour.
Gabriel Diallo (ATP-55) is the second finalist. The Canadian surprised Ugo Humbert, number 20 in the world and number two of the placement list. In the first set, Diallo only needed one break, in the second set he proved to be the strongest in the tiebreak: 6-3 and 7-6 (4).