Second-seeded Elise Mertens capped a dominant run at the Jasmin Open Monastir on Sunday, defeating top seed Jasmine Paolini of Italy 6-3, 6-0 to win the title in Tunisia.
Mertens, of Belgium, didn’t drop a set all week on her way to her eighth career singles title. She lost more than three games in a set only once during her quest for the trophy.
The dominance continued Sunday as Mertens won 63 percent of the total points (57 of 91), converted six of 11 break points and won 74 percent of the points on her first serve, compared to 40 percent for Paolini, during the 70-minute match.
Jiangxi Open
Katerina Siniakova overcame three match points, seven double faults and a first-set thumping to defeat third-seeded Marie Bouzkova to win the all-Czech final 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4) in Nanchang, China.
The match between the countrywomen lasted three hours, 33 minutes, making it the longest WTA final in 2023. The second set alone was one hour, 40 minutes.
After Siniakova fought off one championship point in the second set to even the match, she found herself down again in the third, trailing 5-3 and staring at two more match points. She won that game, then the next two, to serve for the title at 6-5. Bouzkova broke serve to set up the tiebreak, however.
–Field Level Media
