Elise Mertens to face Ann Li in Singapore Tennis Open final; top seed Anna Kalinskaya retires injured

SINGAPORE – Elise Mertens will be hoping that third time is the charm when she steps onto centre court at the Kallang Tennis Hub for the Singapore Tennis Open final on Feb 2.

Since winning the Jasmin Open in October 2023, the Belgian has made another two final appearances in WTA Tour events at the 2024 and 2025 editions of the Hobart International, losing both times.

But the 29-year-old is hoping to end her wait for a trophy after advancing to the final of the US$275,000 (S$371,000) event. She beat China’s fourth seed Wang Xinyu 6-3, 6-4 in the semi-finals on Feb 1.

The world No. 32 said: “I will definitely enjoy the win of today and the title is always on your mind when you enter a tournament and I’m second seed.

“I’m pretty pleased about my performance at the beginning of the year.

“But I just have to focus on myself and not so much on the score or the outcome, to use the experience from the last final I played and hopefully it will go my way.”

While she is more known for being a doubles player, Mertens – a former world No. 1 and four-time Grand Slam champion in the doubles – opted not to participate in the event here as she targets a higher singles ranking.

Capping off the WTA 250 event in Singapore with the title will help that goal, as the winner will earn 250 ranking points.

“It’s not so easy to have a high singles ranking. There are a lot of other good players but I only played singles this week because my priority is singles,” said Mertens, whose career-best singles ranking is 12th.

“I never really practise doubles, which I know is pretty strange. I’ll definitely want to grow my ranking again in singles; I think this is a good start.”

While Mertens has enjoyed a good start to 2025, Russian top seed Anna Kalinskaya’s nightmare continued as she exited the Singapore Tennis Open on Feb 1 after an injury forced her to retire from her semi-final clash against United States’ Ann Li.

The world No. 18 lost the first set 7-6 (7-2) and received courtside treatment on her right thigh before the start of the second set.

Li, ranked 85th, claimed the first game of the second set before Kalinskaya retired 59 minutes into the match.

In the earlier rounds of the WTA 250 event, the 26-year-old Russian also appeared to be struggling with injury, receiving a medical timeout in her three-set opener against Caroline Dolehide.

Kalinskaya has had a rough start to the season, losing her opener at the Brisbane International before retiring in Adelaide to Belinda Bencic due to illness.

A virus also forced her to withdraw from the Australian Open at the 11th hour.

She did not participate in any media interviews after the match.

Although Li and Mertens have not met on court, the American knows it will be a tough final as she aims for a second WTA Tour singles title.

She claimed the Tenerife Ladies Open in Spain in 2021, before rising to a career-high world No. 44 in January 2022. An abdominal and pectoral injury hindered her progress for the next few years, but Li, 24, believes she has rediscovered her form.

She made the Merida Open final in Mexico just three months ago, losing in straight sets to Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez, returning to the top 100 at the end of 2024.

Li said: “From when I won my first title, I’ve struggled for a bit for a couple of years and since maybe mid- to the end of last year, I started to feel a lot better.

“I found my game again, found myself a little bit, of course I want to win. Whatever happens, I’m just going to put everything out there and I’m happy with the week either way.

“I’m just going to try to play good tennis again. If I fight and compete well, I know I have a good chance.”

The doubles final on Feb 2 will feature China’s Wang and Zheng Saisai against the US’ Desirae Krawczyk and Mexico’s Giuliana Olmos.

Kimberly Kwek joined The Straits Times in 2019 as a sports journalist and has since covered a wide array of sports, including golf and sailing.