WORLD number 17, Belgian Elise Mertens is firming towards a third Hobart International title, and continuing her remarkably strong record to start each season. Mertens won in Hobart in 2017 and 2018, then opted for the Sydney International last year, but managed to claim a title in Doha mid-February where she beat three top five players on the way to a title.

Yesterday, Mertens looked sublime, not wasting anytime in running out a 6-1 6-0 winner over Viktoria Kuzmova in just 56 minutes. In that time she broke four times, won 78.1 per cent of her first serves – including producing four aces – and won 52.6 per cent of her second serves, whilst absolutely attacking Kuzmova’s serve. The 56.3 per cent first serve return points won and 73.7 per cent second serve return points won are both phenomenal moving through to the quarter finals without a sweat.

Up the other end of the draw, Grand Slam winner Garbine Muguruza had to work hard against Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, dropping the first set before coming back to win 3-6 6-3 7-6 against the world number 85. The Spanish talent set up a quarter final clash with fifth seed, Veronika Kudermetova after the 22-year-old Russian downed American ninth seed, Catherine Bellis in straight sets, 7-6 6-1. In the same half of the draw, fourth seed Zhang Shuai came back from a set down to post a win against a plucky Kateryna Kozlova. The 91st ranked Ukrainian caused plenty of headaches for the Chinese seed, winning the first set 6-4, before Shuai posted a 4-6 6-1 6-2 win to get it done in just under two hours. Shuai now meets American Lauren Davis who upset sixth seed, Magna Linette, downing the Polish player 6-4 6-4 in what was an epic contest despite the scoreline, taking almost two hours for the 20 games.

Elsewhere, Australian hope Lizette Cabrera continued her run into the quarter finals, beating her previous best finish at Hobart which was the Round of 16. She knocked off Czech, Kristyna Pliskova 4-6 6-4 6-4 in just over two hours, weathering the storm of 14 aces in the match whilst not serving one herself. She now faces third seed Elena Rybakina who made the final in Shenzhen and moved up into the top 30. Rybakina defeated Frenchwoman, Alize Cornet 7-5 6-3 to book that spot in the final eight. In the final Round of 16 match, Brit Heather Watson took just under two hours to fight off the challenge of Fiona Ferro, winning 7-6 6-3 to now size up against the number one seed Mertens.

In the order of play, Davis takes on Zhang up first on centre court from 1.30pm, before Mertens faces Watson. In the evening, it is the only battle of the seeds with Kudermetova and Muguruza going at it, with the prime time night game seeing Rybakina looking to make another semi-final taking on local hope Cabrera.

Day 3 Results:

[1] Elise Mertens (BEL) defeated Viktoria Kuzmova (SVK) 6-1 6-0
[2] Garbine Muguruza (ESP) defeated Ons Jabeur (TUN) 3-6 6-3 7-6
[3] Elena Rybakina (KAZ) defeated Alize Cornet (FRA) 7-6 6-3
[4] Zhang Shuai (CHN) defeated Kateryna Kozlova (UKR) 4-6 6-1 6-2
[5] Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) defeated [9] Catherine Bellis (USA) 7-6 6-1
Lauren Davis (USA) defeated [6] Magna Linette (POL) 6-4 6-4
Heather Watson (GBR) defeated Fiona Ferro (FRA) 7-6 6-3
Lizette Cabrera (AUS) defeated Kristyna Pliskova (CZE) 4-6 6-4 6-4