Mladenovic increases euphoria after Roland Garros in Rosmalen

Kristina Mladenovic (WTA-32) provided herself with a place in the final four at the Ricoh Open. The third seed survived a break in set one as well as in the second set against Elise Mertens (WTA-171) overcoming her 7-5, 6-3.

For Mertens it was the end of a great tournament. The Belgian qualified for the main programme in the qualification rounds, where she established her name by allowing Eurgenie Bouchard only two games in the opening round.

The 20-year-old Mertens was able to count on her many fanatic Belgian supporters during her competitions at the Autotron. Mladenovic could not be distracted however, she kept a cool head and caused a lot of damage on Mertens’ second serve.

For Mladenovic, the tournament in Rosmalen is a pleasant continuation of her performance at Roland Garros, where she won the doubles title with Caroline Garcia.

In the singles tournament in Paris, France’s number one was defeated by Serena Williams in the third round. Previously she reached her season’s first semi-final at the WTA tournament in Strassbourg.

Mladenovic has to beat top seed Belinda Bencic from Switzerland to reach the final. Last year the French player was defeated by her good friend in a long quarter-final match on the Brabant grass.