In addition to reaching her eighth singles final, Elise Mertens is now in the Australian Open doubles quarter-finals. Together with Arena Sabalenka, she measured Laura Sigmund and Vera Zvonareva in three groups.
In the first round of the doubles, Elise Mertens defeated Alison van Uitfank. This time I encountered a German-Russian tandem with Sigmund and Zvonareva on the other side of the grid. Her doubles partner had previously lost to Serena Williams in singles after three dramatic sets.
Sabalenka still wants to get the most out of it in doubles with Mertens, it quickly becomes apparent. They took care of the first five games. The last group A matches were for statistics only. In the group two things turn out differently. An early advance of Sigmund and Zvonareva was immediately canceled, but then the German and the Russians withdrew again.
MERTENS and SABALENKA are finishing them in Group 3
They ran to 2-4 and 3-5. Mertens and Sabalenka still managed to make a comeback. But after the tiebreak, the group’s win was still up to their opponent. The Belgian / Belarusian duo arranged matters in the decisive third set, and qualified 6-3, 6-7 (5/7) and 6-2 for the women’s doubles quarter-finals.
