No.2 seeds Hunter and Mertens notch round-robin win at WTA Finals Cancun

Storm Hunter and Elise Mertens, the No.2 seeds, kicked off their GNP Seguros WTA Finals Cancun campaign with a dominant 6-4, 6-2 victory against the No.3 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara in their group play match.

Hunter and Mertens, who triumphed in the WTA 1000 tournaments in Rome and Guadalajara earlier this season, showcased their prowess on the court as they sealed their first round-robin win of the week in just 1 hour and 16 minutes.

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Following this triumph, Hunter and Mertens now stand at a 1-0 record in the Maya Ka’an Group. On the other hand, Aoyama and Shibahara, who secured a victory in their opening match on Monday, currently hold a 1-1 record in group play.

In the beginning of the match, the Japanese duo, Aoyama and Shibahara, took an early lead with a 3-1 advantage in the first set. However, a spectacular winning volley from the Australian player, Hunter, allowed her team to regain their momentum in the following game.

Later in the set, Hunter and Mertens broke their Japanese opponents at love, establishing a 5-4 lead. Mertens, from Belgium, then served out the set flawlessly, as the No.2 seeds stormed through the last nine points of the set.

In the second set, Hunter and Mertens breezed through without facing any threat to their serves. Their impeccable returning game resulted in a 68 percent success rate against the Aoyama/Shibahara second serves.

Mertens has now emerged victorious in her last six doubles matches at the esteemed WTA Finals. In the previous edition, she, along with Veronika Kudermetova, remained unbeaten with a flawless 5-0 record en route to clinching the championship. Additionally, Mertens was the runner-up in the 2021 WTA Finals partnered with Hsieh Su-wei.