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Elise Mertens’ quest for a 3rd Hobart International title was thwarted by Emma Navarro, who outlasted the No 1 seed from Belgium, 6-1 4-6 7-5, in Saturday’s final.
I think it’s our eighth year together [coach Peter Ayers]. There’s been ups and downs but I definitely would put this at the top of an up. Thanks for sticking with me all these years. Emma Navarro
The 22-year-old American, seeded 2 in Hobart, claimed her first WTA tour title after a 2 hour 48 minute battle, and gave herself a massive boost of confidence ahead of her Australian Open debut.
“I don’t know if I could put words to the emotions, but it’s been a lot of years in the making,” Navarro said. “My coach and I have been together for eight years, I think. From where we started to now, it’s really crazy to think about.
“Probably six, seven years ago, I was hoping to be a decent college player, and that was going to be good enough for me. So to be here now, it’s really crazy, and I guess just a testament to the work we’ve both put in.”
Navarro is an NCAA singles champion, and hails from Charleston. Now she is also a WTA Tour singles champion.
She turned pro in 2022 and won 7 titles on the ITF tour, including twice at LTP Mount Pleasant in 2023.
This time last year, she was ranked 149 but has since soared to a career-high of 31, having also reached the semi-finals in Auckland this month.
She is 8-1 this season heading into the Australian Open, where she will make her main draw debut as the 27th seed against China’s Wang Xiyu, ranked 62.
Elise Mertens rallied to push the final into a decider but was outrun by Emma Navarro
© Steve Bell/Getty Images
On Saturday, she took the first set in just 35 minutes, but dropped the second as Mertens fought back.
The Belgian, who won back-to-back Hobart titles in 2017 and 2018, looked to be on track to take the decider too when she held a 5-4 lead, but Navarro won the next 2 games to swing the momentum back in her favour, and closed out the match.
With the win, Navarro becomes the second straight American to prevail in Hobart, after Lauren Davis won the title in the Tasmanian capital last year.
Despite suffering a rare loss at this event, Mertens still holds an excellent 15-3 career win-loss record at the WTA 250 tournament.
It was a gruelling encounter in which Navarro offered much resistance and took the match to her top-seeded Belgian opponent from the start, firing winners off both wings on the back of her big groundstrokes and wrapping up the first set in short order.
Having swept through the first set, the No 2 seed was up a break on 3 separate occasions in the second, but Mertens broke back immediately each time, then saved 6 break points in a gritty hold for 5-4 before breaking and levelling the match at a set apiece, with the blustery Tasmanian wind now making serving tricky.
Navarro broke Mertens twice in the early stages of the third set, but again, the Belgian stayed within touching distance through 5-5, when the American edged ahead for good by cracking a rally forehand to break for 6-5, and then converted her 2nd match point in the next game with a forehand winner down the line.
Keeping her nerves at bay to complete the win, Navarro struck 39 winners to Mertens’ 24 in the final, and held 19 break points, from which she converted 8.
Normally stoic, Navarro cracked a smile after winning the almost 3-hour struggle as she raised her arms in triumph before hugging her mother, Kelly, coach Peter Ayers and her hitting partner.
“I think it’s our eighth year together,” Navarro said of her coach. “There’s been ups and downs but I definitely would put this at the top of an up. Thanks for sticking with me all these years.”
Navarro now heads to the Australian Open with a projected ranking of No 26, a career-best.
As for 28-year old Mertens, who has won 8 WTA titles in her career, she is seeded 25 at the upcoming major at Melbourne Park, where she will meet Egypt’s Mayar Sherif in the 1st-round.
The Belgian was an Australian Open semi-finalist in her 2018 main-draw debut, which came directly after she won her second straight Hobart title.
Hobart doubles champions Chan Hao-Ching & Giuliana Olmos, the No 2 seeds, defeated unseeded Guo Hanyu & Jiang Xinyu in the final
The Hobart International doubles final was contested later on Saturday, where No 2 seeds Chan Hao-Ching & Giuliana Olmos defeated unseeded Guo Hanyu & Jiang Xinyu, 6-3 6-3, for the title.
In the second set, Guo & Jiang battled back from 5-0 down to 5-3, but Olmos pulled together a love hold in the next game to close out the victory after 1 hour and 16 minutes.
It is the 20th career WTA doubles title for Chan, and the 6th WTA doubles title for Olmos.
It is their first title as a partnership, having played their first event together just last summer in Washington, DC.
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