Elise Mertens takes 18th doubles title in Rome

Belgian Elise Mertens and Australian Storm Hunter won the doubles title at the WTA 1,000 tournament in Rome on Saturday.

Fourth seed Mertens and Hunter beat first seed Americans Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula 6-4 6-4 in the final. Mertens and Hunter had previously eliminated Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens and Poland's Alicja Rosolska in the first round.

Saturday evening's victory is the 18th doubles title for 27-year-old Mertens and is her first win of 2023. Last year, she and Russian Veronika Kudermetova won the Dubai Championships and the WTA Finals in Fort Worth. Her biggest triumphs have come playing with Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, with whom she won the Australian Open in 2021 and the US Open in 2019. She won Wimbledon in 2021 with Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei.

In the singles in Rome, Mertens, ranked 26, lost to Russian Anna Kalinskaya, ranked 57, in the second round last week.

(BRV)

^{Elise Mertens © PHOTO OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP}