The 16th seed Belgian Elise Mertens will take on American Catherine Bellis in the third round of the Australian Open 2020 on Saturday, January 25. The match is not expected to start before 1 pm local time (2 am BST). You can find the Elise Mertens v Catherine Bellis live streaming options along with its preview, head to head and tips here.
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Elise Mertens v Catherine Bellis Head to Head
The pair have only met once on tour before. Surprisingly the American got the better of the Belgian on that occasion. She won in straight sets on the hard courts of Dubai in 2018.
Mertens Has Only Dropped Five Games This Week
After crashing out of two back to back quarter-finals at Shenzhen and Hobart, the Belgian is looking in top form this week. She has only dropped five games in the first two rounds and inflicted two bagels on her opponents.
After a successful 2018, where Mertens won three titles, her form suffered at the beginning of last season. But she came back strongly to win in Doha and reached the semifinals at Osaka. She ended the season impressively by reaching the quarter-finals at the US Open. Mertens also won a doubles Grand Slam last season at the same event with Arya Sabalenka.
She was the semi-finalist at Melbourne two seasons ago. A strong run this time around will take her back into the top ten rankings.
Fresh Start for Bellis After Turbulent Two Years With Injuries
Just at the age of 15, Bellis was already playing in the main draw of a Grand Slam. She reached the second round of the US Open in 2014 as a wildcard player. The youngest since Anna Kournikova in 1996 to win a main draw match at the US Open as well. She had not even taken her Grand Slam prize money for a long time because she wasn’t sure if she wanted to turn pro. At one point in time, she was prepared to forfeit $140000 to ensure that she qualifies for UCAA College grants.
Her rise to the top was remarkable in the sense that she broke into the top 100 rankings at the age of 17 and the top 50 a year later. By 2017 she had already won seven titles at the ITF level. She had also reached the third rounds at the US Open & the French Open and a quarter-finalist at Doha.
But she has had a terrible spate of injuries since then. First, she underwent an operation on her wrist and elbow, followed by another one on her wrist. The injuries limited her to only playing 23 matches in the last two seasons. Once as high as 35 in the world, she is currently number 600 in the world.
Her two straight sets victories mean that she will soon be in the top 100 once again. If she maintains her fitness and remains healthy, it won’t be long before she is competing with the best once again.
Elise Mertens v Catherine Bellis Predictions & Tips
On paper, the difference between the players is huge. Mertens is a top 20 player and has been a Grand Slam semi-finalist. Bellis, on the other hand, is world number 600 and coming back from a two-year injury absence. But the Belgian will know what her opponent can do. It will be a closer match then what the stats suggests.
Tip: Mertens to win in three sets: 3/1 (Click here to get these odds with bet365)
You can watch & bet on Mertens v Bellis on Saturday, January 25 here. . Get the latest tennis predictions and tips here.
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