Elise Mertens

Elise Mertens
Elise Mertens 2015 at the Wimbledon Championships
Nation:	Belgium
Birthday:	November 17, 1995
Size:	179 cm
1st professional season:	2013
Playing hand:	Right, two-handed backhand
Trainer:	Robbie Ceyssens
Prize money:	$ 6,277,679
singles
Career record:	300: 164
Career title:	5 WTA , 11 ITF
Highest ranking:	12 (November 26, 2018)
Current placement:	23
Grand Slam record
Double
Career record:	227: 104
Career title:	9 WTA, 1 WTA Challenger, 13 ITF
Highest ranking:	2 (September 9, 2019)
Current placement:	6th
Grand Slam record
Last update of the infobox: March 16, 2020
Sources: official player profiles at the ATP / WTA and ITF (see web links )

Elise Mertens (born November 17, 1995 in Leuven ) is a Belgian tennis player .

Career

Mertens, who started playing tennis at the age of four, celebrated successes as a junior, especially in doubles. She won a total of 13 double titles on the junior tour, her largest of which in 2013 at the renowned Abierto Juvenil Mexicano junior tournament alongside Karin Kennel , which brought her up to seventh place in the junior tennis world rankings. She made her debut on the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour the year before and won her first four professional titles in 2013. She ended her junior career at the US Open when she reached the semi-finals in the doubles competition together with İpek Soylu .

In 2014 Mertens won her first title at an ITF tournament in the $ 25,000 category in El Paso, followed by another in Santa Margherita di Pula in 2015 . In the same year she appeared at the grass tournament in 's-Hertogenbosch for the first time in the qualification of a WTA tournament, but was eliminated in the first round. In Wimbledon , Mertens then started, also in qualification, for the first time in a Grand Slam tournament and made it through to the final round. On hard court, she then won her biggest title to date in Victoria at an ITF tournament in the $ 50,000 category. At the beginning of 2016, Mertens succeeded in winning the first title on the WTA Tour alongside her compatriot An-Sophie Mestach in the double competition in Auckland . In 's-Hertogenbosch she was able to qualify for a WTA main field for the first time in an individual and, after a first round win over Eugenie Bouchard, advanced to the quarter-finals, in which she was defeated by Kristina Mladenovic . At the US Open , she then made her debut in the main round of a Grand Slam tournament after surviving qualification, but failed at the start to Garbiñe Muguruza before she could win her second ITF title in the $ 50,000 category in Atlanta .

At the beginning of 2017 Mertens first attracted international attention when she came out of the qualification in Hobart after a final victory against Monica Niculescu and celebrated her first individual title on the WTA Tour and stayed without losing a set for the entire duration of the tournament. Due to the success she moved into the top 100 of the tennis world rankings for the first time. In Istanbul she then reached her second individual final on clay court, in which she had to admit defeat to the top seeded Elina Switolina . At the French Open , she advanced to the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time and then scored the semi-finals in Båstad and New Haven , where she was defeated by Dominika Cibulková . Towards the end of the season she won her second WTA doubles title in Guangzhou together with Demi Schuurs , with whom she formed a successful duo from now on, and ended the year in the top 50 in the ranking after another single semi-final in Luxembourg .

At the beginning of the 2018 season, Mertens defended her Hobart title by beating Mihaela Buzărnescu in the final as the first player in the history of the tournament . She also won the doubles competition with Demi Schuurs. The final breakthrough came with her first participation in the main draw of the Australian Open , in which, after a success in the quarter-finals, she advanced through Elina Switolina to the semifinals, in which she was only beaten by the eventual winner Caroline Wozniacki . Mertens then won her third WTA title in singles on the clay court in Lugano , where she defeated Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the individual competition and, together with Kirsten Flipkens, her fourth tournament victory in doubles. This was followed in Rabat after a final victory over Ajla Tomljanović, her fourth WTA triumph in individual. At the French Open she reached the round of 16 for the first time at the end of the clay court season and was eliminated by Simona Halep . Mertens and Schuur celebrated their third title win on grass in 's-Hertogenbosch . She then moved into the later rounds of several major tournaments on American hard courts. So she was initially in the semi-finals in San José , in which she was defeated by the eventual winner Mihaela Buzărnescu, reached the Rogers Cup in Montreal and in Cincinnati , where she won her third win against a top 10 player in the round of 16 against Sloane Stephens the quarter-finals and, for the first time, the fourth round at the US Open ; there it failed this time because of Stephens. In Wuhan , Mertens triumphed again with Schuurs for the first time at a WTA tournament in the Premier 5 category, after they had to admit defeat in Cincinnati in the final to Lucie Hradecká and Jekaterina Makarowa . In the final they prevailed against Andrea Sestini Hlaváčková and Barbora Strýcová . Together with Schuurs, she then qualified for the first time for the WTA Championships 2018 in Singapore, where the two were eliminated in two sets in the quarter-finals against Ashleigh Barty and Coco Vandeweghe . In addition, she was allowed to compete for the first time at the WTA Elite Trophy 2018 in Zhuhai. After a win over Anett Kontaveit and a defeat against Julia Görges , she failed there in the group stage. Nevertheless, at the end of the year she reached her highest world ranking position to date with twelfth place.

At the beginning of 2019, Mertens won her biggest single title to date at the premier tournament in Doha . With Kiki Bertens , Angelique Kerber and Simona Halep, she beat three players from the top 10 in a row in the final. She also teamed up with Aryna Sabalenka earlier in the year and triumphed by her side in successive Premier Mandatory tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami . In singles, she reached the round of 16 at the Grand Slam tournaments of the Wimbledon Championships 2019 / women's singles , which she lost to Barbora Strýcová , and her first quarter-finals at the US Open , in which she had to admit defeat to the eventual winner Bianca Andreescu . However, Mertens landed the greatest success of her career there when she won her first Grand Slam title in the double competition after winning the final against Viktoria Asaranka and Ashleigh Barty. Since the two of them had already reached the semi-finals at the French Open before that, Mertens climbed to second place in the WTA double world rankings. With another semi-final participation in Osaka , where she lost to Naomi Osaka , Mertens also qualified for the WTA Elite Trophy in 2019 . After a victory over Maria Sakkari and a defeat against her doubles partner Sabalenka, she was eliminated in the preliminary round as in the previous year. Together with Sabalenka, she took part in the double decision of the WTA Championships in Shenzhen for the second time in a row . There, despite a win against Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan, the two did not get beyond the group phase due to two lost games against Tímea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic as well as Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Demi Schuurs. In the individual, Mertens finished the season in 17th place and thus in the top 20 in the world for the second year in a row.

At the Australian Open 2020, Mertens advanced to the round of 16 at the start of the season, in which she was defeated by Simona Halep.

In 2017 Mertens made her debut for the Belgian Fed Cup team in the 3-1 quarter-final win against Romania . Since then, she has contested 14 matches for her country, of which she was able to win ten (individual balance 8: 3).

In the German Bundesliga , Mertens played for TC Moers 08 from 2013 to 2016 and for the club on the Alster in 2017 .

Tournament victories

singles

No.	date	competition	category	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	April 21, 2013	Sharm El Sheikh	ITF $ 10,000	Hard court	Arabella Fernandez Rabener	6: 4, 6: 3
2.	20th October 2013	Sharm El Sheikh	ITF $ 10,000	Hard court	Klaartje Liebens	2: 6, 6: 2, 6: 4
3.	October 27, 2013	Sharm El Sheikh	ITF $ 10,000	Hard court	Klaartje Liebens	6: 7 0 , 6: 1, 6: 3
4th	December 28, 2013	Istanbul	ITF $ 10,000	Hard court (hall)	Karen Barbat	7: 5, 4: 6, 6: 4
5.	March 23, 2014	Ponta Delgada	ITF $ 10,000	Hard court	Barbara Luz	6: 2, 6: 4
6th	June 8, 2014	El Paso	ITF $ 25,000	Hard court	Ashley Weinhold	6: 1, 3: 6, 6: 4
7th	June 28, 2014	Bangkok	ITF $ 10,000	Hard court	Lee Pei-chi	6: 3, 6: 2
8th.	5th July 2014	Bangkok	ITF $ 10,000	Hard court	Nungnadda Wannasuk	6: 1, 6: 1
9.	May 3, 2015	Santa Margherita di Pula	ITF $ 25,000	sand	Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers	7: 6 6 , 6: 4
10.	3rd October 2015	Victoria	ITF $ 50,000	Hard court	Amandine Hesse	6: 4, 6: 3
11.	18th September 2016	Atlanta	ITF $ 50,000	Hard court	Melanie Oudin	6: 4, 6: 2
12.	January 14, 2017	Hobart	WTA International	Hard court	Monica Niculescu	6: 3, 6: 1
13.	January 13, 2018	Hobart	WTA International	Hard court	Mihaela Buzărnescu	6: 1, 4: 6, 6: 2
14th	April 15, 2018	Lugano	WTA International	sand	Aryna Sabalenka	7: 5, 6: 2
15th	5th May 2018	Rabat	WTA International	sand	Ajla Tomljanović	6: 2, 7: 6 4
16.	16th February 2019	Doha	WTA Premier	Hard court	Simona Halep	3: 6, 6: 4, 6: 3

Double

No.	date	competition	category	Topping	Partner	Final opponents	Result
1.	April 6, 2013	Sharm El Sheikh	ITF $ 10,000	Hard court	Justine De Sutter	Alina Mitschejewa Jillian O'Neill	6: 1, 6: 4
2.	October 26, 2013	Sharm El Sheikh	ITF $ 10,000	Hard court	Sandra Zaniewska	Valery Strachova Karina Venditti	6: 4, 6: 7 5 , [12:10]
3.	December 27, 2013	Istanbul	ITF $ 10,000	Hard court (hall)	İpek Soylu	Yuuki Tanaka Jekaterina Jaschina	6: 0, 7: 6 3
4th	March 22, 2014	Ponta Delgada	ITF $ 10,000	Hard court	Svyatlana Pirashenka	Teresa Malikowa Pernilla Mendesová	6: 1, 6: 2
5.	15th August 2014	West end of Middelkerke	ITF $ 25,000	Hard court	Ysaline Bonaventure	Marina Melnikova Yevgenia Rodina	6: 2, 6: 2
6th	22nd August 2014	Wanfercee Baulet	ITF $ 15,000	sand	Demi Schuurs	Tatiana Búa Daniela Seguel	6: 2, 6: 3
7th	November 1, 2014	Sharm El Sheikh	ITF $ 25,000	Hard court	Alice Matteucci	Ioana Loredana Roșca Julia Terziyska	6: 7 1 , 7: 6 4 , [10: 6]
8th.	3rd July 2015	Denain	ITF $ 25,000	sand	İpek Soylu	Xenia Knoll Florencia Molinero	7: 6 3 , 6: 3
9.	7th August 2015	Koksijde	ITF $ 25,000	sand	Demi Schuurs	Justyna Jegiołka Sherazad Reix	6: 3, 6: 2
10.	September 26, 2015	Monterrey	ITF $ 50,000	Hard court	Ysaline Bonaventure	Marina Melnikova Mandy Minella	6: 4, 3: 6, [11: 9]
11.	3rd October 2015	Victoria	ITF $ 50,000	Hard court	Ysaline Bonaventure	María Irigoyen Barbora Krejčíková	6: 4, 4: 6, [10: 6]
12.	January 9, 2016	Auckland	WTA International	Hard court	To-Sophie Mestach	Danka Kovinić Barbora Strýcová	2: 6, 6: 3, [10: 5]
13.	January 29, 2016	Andrézieux-Bouthéon	ITF $ 50,000	Hard court (hall)	To-Sophie Mestach	Viktorija Golubic Xenia Knoll	6: 4, 3: 6, [10: 7]
14th	October 29, 2016	Tampico	ITF $ 50,000	Hard court	Mihaela Buzărnescu	Usue Maitane Arconada Katie Swan	6-0, 6-2
15th	20th November 2016	Limoges	WTA Challenger	Hard court (hall)	Mandy Minella	Anna Smith Renata Voráčová	6: 4, 6: 4
16.	23 September 2017	Guangzhou	WTA International	Hard court	Demi Schuurs	Monique Adamczak Storm Sanders	6: 2, 6: 3
17th	January 13, 2018	Hobart	WTA International	Hard court	Demi Schuurs	Ljudmyla Kitschenok Makoto Ninomiya	6: 2, 6: 2
18th	April 15, 2018	Lugano	WTA International	sand	Kirsten Flipkens	Wera Lapko Aryna Sabalenka	6: 1, 6: 3
19th	June 16, 2018	's-Hertogenbosch	WTA International	race	Demi Schuurs	Kiki Bertens Kirsten Flipkens	3: 3 task
20th	29th September 2018	Wuhan	WTA Premier 5	Hard court	Demi Schuurs	Andrea Sestini Hlaváčková Barbora Strýcová	6: 3, 6: 3
21st	16th March 2019	Indian Wells	WTA Premier Mandatory	Hard court	Aryna Sabalenka	Barbora Krejčíková Kateřina Siniaková	6: 3, 6: 2
22nd	March 30, 2019	Miami	WTA Premier Mandatory	Hard court	Aryna Sabalenka	Samantha Stosur Zhang Shuai	7: 6 7 , 6: 2
23.	September 8, 2019	US Open	Grand Slam	Hard court	Aryna Sabalenka	Ashleigh Barty Wiktoryja Asaranka	7: 5, 7: 5

Performing in Grand Slam tournaments

singles

competition	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	Career
Australian Open	-	-	HF	3	AF	HF
French Open	-	3	AF	3		AF
Wimbledon	-	1	3	AF		AF
US Open	1	1	AF	VF		VF

Double

competition	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	total
Australian Open	-	2	1	AF	VF	0
French Open	-	1	1	HF	-	0
Wimbledon	2	2	AF	VF	-	0
US Open	-	2	VF	S.	-	1
Tour Championships	-	-	VF	VF	-	0
Doha	-	a. K.	AF	a. K.		0
Dubai	a. K.	1	a. K.	-	a. K.	0
Indian Wells	-	-	AF	S.	-	1
Miami	-	-	HF	S.	-	1
Rome	-	-	-	AF	-	0
Madrid	-	-	1	AF	-	0
Cincinnati	-	1	F.	AF	-	0
Montreal / Toronto	-	-	-	-	-	0
Wuhan	-	1	S.	-	-	1
Beijing	-	AF	HF	AF	-	0
Olympic games	-	not carried out			0
Fed Cup	-	PO	1	-	-	0

Explanation of symbols: S = tournament victory; F, HF, VF, AF = entry into the final / semi-finals / quarter-finals / round of 16; 1, 2, 3 = elimination in the 1st / 2nd / 3rd main round; RR = Round Robin (group stage); na = not carried out; a. K. = other category; PO (playoff) = promotion and relegation round in the Fed Cup; K1, K2, K3 = participation in continental groups I, II, III in the Fed Cup.

Web links

Commons : Elise Mertens  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• WTA profile of Elise Mertens (English)
• ITF profile of Elise Mertens (English)
• ITF junior profile Elise Mertens (English)
• Fed Cup stats by Elise Mertens (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mertens pulls off historic title defense in Hobart (wtatennis.com January 13, 2018, accessed January 13, 2018)