Elise Mertens got the job done with a lot of fight invested at the Australian Open. The unraked Belgian star battled the heat and Alize Cornet to win in straight sets 7-5, 6-4 at Hisense Arena on the grounds of Melbourne Park.
A first-time meeting for the two had the French star looking to reach the fourth round for the first time since 2009 and Mertens who was achieving high marks in her first run in the main draw. The Belgian also carries a nine-match winning streak winning the tournament at Hobart last week. Her defeats of Viktoria Kuzmova and Daria Gavrilova put her in a spot to gaining another similar victory. Cornet’s first win ever against Julia Goerges was a massive accomplishment ending the five-match losing streak to the German. It was a sign that her confidence would go into the third with much to grab while her run continued.
After the formal holds of serve to start the set, Mertens went for the beak on Cornet and achieved victory setting herself ahead after the third. She brought a game that pressured Cornet during the fourth that capped her third straight against the Frenchwoman. Cornet tried to counter the Belgian who was still fighting to break her opponent further but the 27-year-old had troubles on deuce double faulting before giving Mertens the game with a backhand error.
In the need for a break, Cornet bested Mertens in the six breaking her for a climb back with more ground still to be made up. A key hold put Cornet down by one and added a break of the Belgian to level the score at four all completing the comeback. Cornet had her fourth game win in a row over Bertens taking a lead that was stopped by the Belgian who served to love to extend the first set with the hope to regaining control.
A massive triple break was at and for Mertens until Cornet fought back to save the points. Cornet could only manage one as the Belgian was on a mission to take the lead and go for the set. Holding match point on the French star, Mertens won it on a forehand error from Cornet to end things in 55 minutes. She served at 80 percent bettering Cornet in every other aspect keeping her confidence high.
The heat was becoming a major factor as the afternoon made things difficult for all involved on court. The first two games took some time to complete but both broke one another in the process. The Belgian got the best of the French star who fell during the final point that gave Mertens the lead in the second set. During the short breaks, Cornet called for the trainer as she felt dizzy which was evaluated to be over exhaust from the heat. She made the call to continue on but lost two more along the way to Mertens who was in line to win the match.
Despite a lot of problems rattling Cornet, she somehow won a break on the Belgian to stay alive in the set. The French star saw that her troubles got worse as she handed Mertens a triple break that allowed her to serve out the match in the eighth. Cornet denied her the honor as she earned a double break of the Belgian witnessing a comeback emerging in the 107-degree heat. A three-game winning streak was in the hands of the 27-year-old who finished the ninth with another winner that Mertens didn’t have the energy to attain. With her chances of ending the round dwindling the 22-year-old had one chance during regulation to get it done.
Cornet was relentless for the Belgian who watched her break back to force deuce in the tenth. She got the AD point for the first time but double faulted at the worst time. She turned it around playing close to the net winning the point right there for a second try. A 15-shot rally ended with Cornet saving the point to go to deuce a third time. She saved it once more but after five breaks, the AD point went to Mertens for a fourth chance that she clinched on the 12th shot that went into the net for Cornet ending the match after two hours and one minute.
She will hope that the weather fares better on Sunday when she’ll take on Petra Martic who brought an end to Thailand amazing run.
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