Elise Mertens qualified for the semi-finals of the WTA 250 Hobart International

The top-seeded Elise Mertens (Belgium) qualified for the semi-finals of the WTA 250 Hobart International. The Belgian tennis player eliminated Arantxa Rus (Netherlands) after 2-0 (7:5, 6:0) in 1:38 hours of play.

The first set, which lasted exactly an hour, started with an early break fin favor of Elise Mertens, who took a lead of 2:0 and kept her lead by 5:4, when she was serving for the set. The Belgian tennis player received even a set point, but Arantxa Rus saved it and succeeded to break her opponent and equalized the score to 5:5. In the 11th game, Elise Mertens returned the break and regained her lead again, which proved to be enough for her to close the set at 7:5.

The second set was under the total dominance of the top-seeded player, who won it by 6:0 and did not gave any chance of Arantxa Rus.

In the semi-finals, Elise Mertens will face Daria Saville (Australia), who eliminated the 3rd-seeded Lin Zhu (China) after 2-1 (3:6, 6:1, 6:4).

In the other semi-final, the second-seeded Emma Navarro (USA) will face the big surprise of the tournament Yue Yuan (China). The American tennis player defeated Viktoriya Tomova (bulgaria) by 2-1 (4:6, 6:3, 6:2), while the Chinese player eliminated Yulia Putintseva (Kazakhstan) after 2-0 (7:5, 7:6).