Belgian wins in the Women's Doubles at the US Open
She did it! Our young 23-year old compatriot Elise Mertens, ranked 26th in the world, won the Women's Doubles at the US Open in Flushing Meadows.
Elise Mertens and Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, ranked 7th and 15th in the world in doubles respectively, beat Australian Ashleigh Barty and another Belarusian, Victoria Azarenka, in 1 hour 37 minutes.
It is important to point out that Belgium had not reached the final of one of the four most important tournaments on the professional tour since 2009. And the last victory was in 2004, when Xavier Malisse and Olivier Rochus won the Men's Doubles at Roland-Garros, beating the French pair of Michaël Llodra and Fabrice Santoro.
As a result of her victory, Belgian No 1 Elise Mertens moves up from 7th to second in the world doubles rankings, a wonderful achievement. Our compatriot also did very well in the singles at Flushing Meadows, although sadly she was beaten in the quarter finals. Elise Mertens lost to the young Canadian Bianca Andreescu (15th), who beat Serena Williams (8th) to win the tournament, which speaks volumes about the level of tennis played by this opponent.
Our national number 1 is at the point of becoming world number 1 in doubles following nine victories in three years.