Elise Mertens choked on Marta Kostjoek at the Australian Open. The Belgian number 1 forced a match point against the 21-year-old Ukrainian, but she ultimately lost after almost 3 hours of tennis in the second round of the Grand Slam tournament. Mertens was our last compatriot in singles.
Elise Mertens and Marta Kostjoek pushed each other to the limit. They immediately presented the Melbourne crowd with some entertaining rallies.
Kostjoek thought it was fine. The Ukrainian raced from here to here and made Mertens work for the points. After just under an hour of sweating, our compatriot managed to win the first set: 7-5.
Kostjoek took over the direction in the second act. Mertens had no problem and lost with clear figures: 6-1.
The third and deciding set was a nail-biter. The two players did not give each other an inch, they continued to exhaust each other with endless ball exchanges.
At 6-5, Mertens forced a match point, but after a slide her working day became even longer. A tiebreak to 10 had to decide the win and loss.
The Belgian number 1 quickly took a 3-0 and 4-1 lead, Kostjoek once again responded with her fighting mentality.
At 6-6 she was lucky with the edge of the net, after which Mertens put the ball on the wrong side of the sideline: 7-6.
The miss was too much for Mertens, Kostjoek played the match without fear. After 2 hours and 55 minutes she had her ticket for the round, for Mertens the doubles remains in Melbourne.
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