Linz 2020: Final Countdown: Tournaments Rankings Players News Videos Stats Wta TV Shop More

19/11/2020 Linz 2020: Final Countdown
Tournaments Rankings Players News Videos Stats WTA TV Shop More
2020 Linz November 14, 2020
Linz 2020: Final Countdown

Top seeds Aryna Sabalenka and Elise Mertens will go head-to-head in the final
match of the 2020 WTA season. Which of the longtime doubles partners will
emerge with the Upper Austria Ladies Linz title? The doubles final will also
feature top seeds Lucie Hradecka and Katerina Siniakova as they take on
Arantxa Rus and Tamara Zidansek.
By David Kane
https://www.wtatennis.com/news/1897504/linz-2020-final-countdown 1/11
Photo by Jimmie48/WTA
ORDER OF PLAY
CENTRE COURT start 12 30 pm

1 L. Hradecka CZE / K. Siniakova CZE vs 4 A. Rus NED / T.
Zidansek SLO
Not Before 3 00 pm
1 A. Sabalenka BLR or B. Krejcikova CZE vs 2 E. Mertens BEL
HEAD TO HEAD
Matches Played
https://www.wtatennis.com/news/1897504/linz-2020-final-countdown
4 2 2/11
19/11/2020
Tournaments
Aryna
Sabalenka
Ranking 10
MATCH POINTS
VS
Rankings
BLR
466.7%
win
Players News Videos
More Head to Head

2
Linz 2020: Final Countdown
6
33.3%
win
Stats WTA TV
Elise
Mertens
Ranking 20
Shop
BEL
More
The final tournament of the 2020 season comes down to the Top 2 seeds as
Aryna Sabalenka and Elise Mertens face off for the Upper Austria Ladies Linz
title. Successful doubles partners since the spring of last year, Sabalenka and
Mertens won their first major title at the 2019 US Open, and won their fourth
title as a pair last month at the J&T Banka Ostrava Open.
As opponents, the duo have played five highly entertaining matches, with
Sabalenka taking a narrow 3 2 edge, having won their previous two clashes.
Mertens overcame Sabalenka to win her first clay court title in Lugano back
in 2018, and rallied from match point down to defeat the Belarusian later
that year at the Coupe Rogers in Montréal. Sabalenka avenged those defeats
at the 2019 Hengqin Life WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai and earlier this year at the
Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Sabalenka is into her third WTA final of 2020 and is looking to not only go
three-for-three with wins in Ostrava and the Qatar Total Open back in
February, but also tie former World No.1 Simona Halep for most titles won this
season. Mertens reached her first final of the year following the COVID 19
lockdown at the Prague Open, where she fell to Halep in the championship
match, and is looking to win her first title since the 2019 Qatar Total Open.
Tournaments Rankings A Linzer Torte

Players 🍰
Newswith Videos
1⃣0⃣ candlesStats 🕯 WTA TV Shop More
By reaching the #wtalinz finals, SabalenkaA

overtook #SerenaWilliams and reentered
the 🔝10 🙌@wta | #arynasabalenka
pic.twitter.com/Fk3OvNWAQR
— WTA Linz WTALinz) November 14, 2020
Sabalenka was rounding into form just before the WTA season was forced to
shut down due to the COVID 19 pandemic, winning her third career Premier 5
title over Petra Kvitova in Doha, and was decidedly below her best through the
summer hardcourt swing that concluded at the US Open, where she bowed
out to countrywoman and eventual finalist Victoria Azarenka in the second
round.
Following a narrow third round Roland Garros defeat to Ons Jabeur, the
Belarusian turned around some major match deficits in Ostrava, avenging a
Lexington defeat to American teenager Coco Gauff from 5 2 down in the
final set, and then winning the final 12 games against Sara Sorribes Tormo
after trailing, 6 0, 4 0. Learning to shine indoors, a surface on which she'd
only played twice previously on the tour level, she took further vengeance on
Azarenka to win the singles title and later partnered Mertens to sweep the
doubles.
She extended her winning streak to eight in a row as the top seed in Linz,
rolling through three matches without dropping a set against Jasmine Paolini,
Stefanie Voegele, or Oceane Dodin (who retired in the middle of the second
Tournaments Rankings
set). Up against Players
former WTA News
Doubles No.1 BarboraVideos
Krejcikova,Stats
she shook WTA
off aTV Shop More
second set hiccup to serve out the surging Czech star to complete the
championship line-up. By reaching the final, she assured herself of a return to
the Top 10, and a first year-end Top 10 finish.
EMOTIONS@elise_mertens
WTA | #wtalinz
pic.twitter.com/mEVuIzF1LN
— WTA Linz WTALinz)
November 14, 2020
Mertens, by contrast, has enjoyed a bounty of success since the tour resumed
in August. Following a first round defeat at the 31st Palermo Ladies Open, she
reached the Prague Open final and was next in the semifinals and
quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Open and US Open, respectively.
After booking a second straight appearance in the last eight of Flushing
Meadows, she moved on to Ostrava where she made another quarterfinal,
only to take a second straight defeat to Azarenka.
Seeded No.2 in Linz, she's endured her share of tough matches, needing three
sets to survive Anhelina Kalinina and former World No.2 Vera Zvonareva,
who entered the Linz draw as a wildcard.
Following a more straightforward win over No.5 seed Veronika Kudermetova,

she passed one last test against No.4 seed and 2018 Ladies Linz runner-up
Ekaterina Alexandrova, who took the first set and pegged the Belgian back
from 5 3 up in the final set before Mertens closed the gap in the final two
Tournaments
games. Rankings Players News Videos Stats WTA TV Shop More
We have our first doubles finalists!

@lucik2105 & our reigning doubles champ
K_Siniakova defeated Bara/ Sorribes
Tormo 6 3, 3 6, 10 5.
Afterwards they were battling each other in a

mini @porsche race ... 😃🏎🔥@wta |
#porscheoö #porschelinzleonding
pic.twitter.com/v1ws7GRXaE
— WTA Linz WTALinz) November 13, 2020
The doubles final features the reunion of a former top team in Czechs Lucie
Hradecka and Katerina Siniakova. Hradecka and Siniakova played together for
most of the 2017 season to resounding success, reaching the finals of the BNP
Paribas Open, Volvo Car Open, J&T Banka Prague Open, and the US Open to
qualify for the WTA Finals.
The duo wouldn't make it to Singapore due to an injury to Hradecka, and didn't
play again until this week. Hradecka played most of 2020 with Slovenian
Andreja Klepac while Siniakova has spent much of the last several seasons
with Krejcikova.
Together again, the Czechs have dropped just one set in three matches,
closing out No.3 seeds Sorribes Tormo and Irina Bara 10 5 in the match tie-
break. Awaiting them in the finals are No.4 seeds Arantxa Rus and Tamara
Zidansek. Rus and Zidansek paired up for the first time in 2020 and are already
Tournaments Rankings
looking to win Players
a second title, News the Videos
having captured Stats Edging
trophy in Palermo. WTA TV Shop More
through a 10 6 match tie-break against No.2 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and
Vera Zvonareva, the doubles final will open play on Centre Court before the
singles final between Sabalenka and Mertens gets underway.
2020 Linz highlights: Sabalenka battles past Krejcikova
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2020 Linz November 14, 2020