Elise Mertens progresses to doubles second round at Australian Open
Belgian tennis star Elise Mertens has secured a place in the second round of the women’s doubles at the 2025 Australian Open, the first Grand Slam event of the year.
Mertens and her partner, Australian Ellen Perez, seeded sixth in Melbourne, defeated Australian wildcards Jaimee Fourlis and Petra Hule 6-4, 7-5 in the opening round on Court 6 in 1 hour and 40 minutes.
In the second round, Mertens and Perez will face either the Australian pairing of Destanee Aiava and Maddison Inglis or the Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk and Romanian Elena Gabriela Ruse.
Mertens is the defending champion in Melbourne, having won the doubles title last year alongside Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan. This is the first time Mertens has partnered with Perez, with little prior practice together.
Straight sets
Earlier in the week, Mertens was eliminated from the singles competition in the second round, losing in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 to American Jessica Pegula, the seventh seed. This year marked Mertens’ eighth appearance in the singles main draw at the Australian Open. Her best performance came in 2018, when she reached the semi-finals, her highest Grand Slam singles result to date.
Fellow Belgian David Goffin and his partner Alexandre Muller were eliminated in the first round of the men’s doubles, losing 6-3, 6-1 to the German fourth seeds. Sander Gillé, however, advanced to the second round with his Polish partner, Jan Zielinski, after a dominant 6-1, 6-2 victory.
Kimberley Zimmermann and her partner, Katarzyna Kawa, were eliminated in the first round of the women’s doubles, losing 6-2, 6-1 to Ekaterina Alexandrova and Yue Yuan. In mixed doubles, Joran Vliegen and Cristina Bucsa were defeated by Alexandra Panova and Lloyd Glasspool.
#FlandersNewsService | Elise Mertens at the Australian Open © BELGA PHOTO PATRICK HAMILTON
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