Mertens holds off Ruse for first grass title in Rosmalen

Belgian Elise Mertens, the No 3 seed, won the first grasscourt title of her career on Sunday after she beat Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3, 7-6 (4) at Autotron Rosmalen.

The 29-year-old, who saved 11 match points in her semi-final win over Ekaterina Alexandrova, held off a Ruse rally in the second set, saving two set points at 4-5, to clinch the 10th singles title of her career and her second title of 2025.

“It’s been an incredible week,” Mertens said. “Yesterday, I had 11 match points against me, and I managed to still win that match. It’s tennis; anything can happen, so I’m very proud that I took that change yesterday, and today, it was an amazing match.”

Mertens, ranked No 25, defeated Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova (6-4, 6-0), Greek Maria Sakkari (6-3, 6-0), Chinese lucky loser Yue Yuan (6-0, 6-4) and Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, the second seed (2-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4) in the previous rounds of the Rosmalen tournament.

Earlier in the tournament, Ruse, ranked No 80, defeated Dutch qualifier Isis Louise van Den Broek (6-2, 6-1), Canadian qualifier Carson Branstine (6-4, 6-3), Canadian wildcard Bianca Andreescu (6-2, 6-4) and Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto (2-6, 6-4, 6-3).