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Belgian tennis star Elise Mertens won her 10th title by beating Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the final of the Libema Open, and this time, there was no need for miracles. Mertens came through 6-3 7-6 (4) against her Romanian opponent, meaning she has now captured titles on three of the four major surfaces.

The former world No.12 claimed silverware for the second time this season after triumphing at the WTA 250 in Singapore in February. Afterwards, she drew applause from the crowd after declaring: "I really feel at home here." However, the 29-year-old also conceded it was her semi-final win, and not the display against qualifier Ruse, that will live longest in the memory.

In her final four match, before beating Ekaterina Alexandrova. She was 2-6 4-5 down and trailed in the 10th game 15-40 before the Russian missed her first two chances.

Alexandrova then had three advantages, but failed to take any of them before Mertens broke serve to stay alive. She then contrived to blow six more opportunities, one at 6-5 up in the tie-break, before Mertens fought back to force a deciding set, which she won 6-4.

After lifting the trophy this afternoon, she said on court: "It's been an incredible week. Yesterday, I had 11 match points against me, and I still managed to win that match.

"It's tennis, and anything really can happen, so I'm very proud that I turned that around yesterday. And today, it was just an amazing match."

Mertens, now ranked 26th in the world, will take her place as a seeded player at Wimbledon this month. Three years ago, she reached the last-16 in the tournament, which equalled her best-ever run at SW19.

The 2018 semi-finalist does have her title to her name at the famous venue, though. In 2021, she won the ladies' doubles with Hsieh Su-wei, one of four Grand Slam titles in that format.