“The game was very balanced,” she told Belga after her defeat. “In the first set we didn’t take our chances and it cost us dearly. I gave everything I had, but our opponents played a bit more stable. We had too many highs But hey, after my premature defeat in singles (Editor’s note: as soon as she entered the running against the Czech Linda Fruhvirtova, 16, 279th in the world), it’s not a bad result. Miami is still a big tournament on the circuit. It’s something to hang on to for the future.”
Elise Mertens will now turn her gaze to clay. The Belgian n°1 has thus planned to play three tournaments en route to Roland-Garros, namely Istanbul (April 18), Madrid (April 28) and Rome (May 9).
“I will do a two-week preparation, in particular to bring my physical condition up to standard, because endurance and explosiveness are very important on clay,” she continued. “It will also allow me to spend some time at home. It will do me good, because it has still been a long tour. I will also continue to work on the construction of the point and the game at the net in order to find colors in simple.”
