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Tennis-Battling mertens saves eleven match points to reach Den Bosch Final

Elise Mertens, the third seeded Belgian, saved 11 match points to beat Ekaterina Alexova (2-6 7-6(7) 6-1), a two-time champion. She will now face Elena-Gabriela Ruse in Saturday's Libema Open Final at Den Bosch.

Mertens lost the first set and fell behind 5-3 in the second. She fought back to force the tiebreak, before beating the Russian second seed. Alexandrova was aiming for her third title after winning in 2022 & 2023.

Mertens: "I lost track after the first one, I didn't know there were 11.

"I was focused on the game and I liked that. I just kept going."

"It was difficult, she started well and won 6-2, 5-3." I stayed focused on the game, and I gave it my all.

Alexandrova has won the only previous match in Den Bosch in 2019. She has also reached the quarter-finals in the last five editions. Mertens has the opportunity to win her second title in this year after winning in Singapore in February.

Mertens will face Romanian qualifier Ruse, who won the second set after losing the first one. She defeated Italian Elisabetta cocciaretto by 2-6 6-4. Mertens won the three previous encounters with Ruse. Trevor Stynes reported the story, Pritha Sakar edited it.

(source: Reuters)