So, it’s very simple. Elise Mertens beat Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-3 in Beijing. First win in six matches against the American, the world No. 4. I said it back in January. Well, in January I said she would never beat her, but careful, I’m not saying the opposite of what I said. I’m clarifying: never before October.
The first five defeats were preparation. February in Dubai, three match points in the second-set tie-break, and she loses. Everybody cried. Me, I wrote in my notebook: “she’s scouting the court”. The notebook has since disappeared, but the spirit was there.
Look at the first set. Break in the third game, Gauff breaks back to 3-3, and Mertens breaks again straight away. That’s Léopold club tennis, you know. She closes it out on her opponent’s serve, on her sixth set point. Six. Me, in Kitzbühel, in ’92, against a future top 10, I had seven. Or four. The context was different, there was wind, or a pigeon.
Second set: break in the second game, and she finishes with an ace. Finishing with an ace is exactly what I’ve been telling my interclubs team (Belgium’s weekend team league) for years. Nobody listens to me. Gauff made 34 unforced errors. Ninety percent of the time, and I’m being generous, 34 unforced errors come from the pressure the other side puts on. That’s no compliment to Gauff, but it’s no compliment to Mertens either, because I would have advised her to play a one-handed backhand.
Now, Swiatek in the quarter-finals, world No. 9, who beat Iva Jovic 6-1, 6-3. My prediction is clear: Mertens wins. Or loses with merit. I’m writing it in my new notebook, in pencil.
Silly question, but if we predicted both results, what did we predict?
And she is also playing the doubles round of 16 with Diana Schnaider. I said that too. All right?
It’s true, we checked: RTBF Sport.
