Elise Mertens got Belgium off to a strong start on the first day of United Cup play in Sydney on Saturday by beating China's Zhu Lin 6-2, 6-2 in Group B action.
The top-ranked player from her country on the WTA Tour, Mertens kicked off her 12th WTA tour-level season in style with a one-hour, 18-minute victory — her fourth in five career meetings with former World No. 31 Zhu.
The 31-year-old from China had a resurgent second half of 2025 after seeing her position in the PIF WTA Rankings plummet due to an elbow injury. Ranked No. 493 in August, she reached the fourth round of the WTA 1000 event in Montreal, and begins 2026 ranked No. 168. But, on the whole, Mertens proved too much for the Chinese No. 6 to handle.
She broke serve six times in victory, won five of the first six games, and four straight from 1-1 in the second set, even though she landed less than than 50 per cent of first serves in set two.
Zizou Bergs, the ATP World No. 42, will attempt to clinch the tie for Belgium next when he faces Zhang Zhizhen, who, like Zhu, is also a former World No. 31 on the comeback trail from injury.
© Copyright 1994 - 2024 ATP Tour, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way or by any means (including photocopying, recording or storing it in any medium by electronic means), without the written permission of ATP Tour, Inc.. Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Community Social Media Policy | Modern Slavery Statement | Feedback | Cookies | Your Privacy Choices 
