Mertens stuns herself and Doha field to take home first Premier title

DOHA—Before Saturday, Elise Mertens had never won more than three games against Simona Halep. For most of the Qatar Total Open final, it looked like she wouldn't do much better. Halep was up 6-3, 4-3, and looked well on her way to holding the golden-eagled trophy.

But Mertens didn't think so. Late in the second set, she began to take charge of the rallies by swinging more freely and turned the match around, all the way to her first WTA Premier title, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

"I couldn't say I was really nervous, but I think my shots went long, "Mertens said. "So I really had to accelerate a little bit better to keep it in the court. I think I had to step in the court a little bit more from the beginning, which I didn't do."

Mertens played a patient, aggressive game, hitting 19 winners to Halep's 32, but she forced a ton of errors by putting more and more pressure on the top seed by stepping in.

"Today I think she was fresher—that's why she could take the match, to dominate the match a little bit," Halep said. "My shots were not strong enough to put her in a difficulty. So I tried everything. I didn't give up. I just want to enjoy the fact that I was able to play final."

Most crucial of all, Mertens played the most important points better than Halep, converting on her chances when she had them. By the end of the match, she had won 88 points to Halep's 94—a noticeable gap.

Unseeded in Qatar, the Belgian put together three back-to-back Top 10 wins, over Kiki Bertens, Angelique Kerber and Halep. When Halep won Doha in 2014, she, too, beat three Top-10 players and from there, she finished the year inside the Top 5. Will Mertens copy that trajectory?

"I hope so," Mertens said. "I had a pretty good run last year throughout the whole year, so I hope so. I'm really working hard. You have to keep working and both feet on the ground every week."

Mertens enjoyed a breakthrough year in 2018, catapulting to a high of No. 12 with a semifinal run at the Australian Open and three titles. Yet, she still got schooled by Halep twice, 6-0, 6-3 in Madrid and 6-2, 6-1 in Roland Garros, both on clay.

"Well, I think it's the process of this week [gave] me confidence—beating those two Top 10 players," Mertens said. "I just kept believing that I actually could do it."

Her 2019 didn't get off to a great start with a third-round loss in Melbourne (costing her a lot of ranking points) and dropping both her Fed Cup matches last weekend against France. Arriving in Doha, she saw her face plastered on giant posters all over the city, with the word "victory" emblazoned on it.

"I saw that the first day already. I was like, Oh, I really have to win this first round," Mertens said. "I didn't expect to be in a final this week. Of course you work for it, but tennis could go either way."

The 23-year-old is now four for five in WTA finals, only losing in a championship match in 2017 in Istanbul.