File photo - Aug 29, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Elise Mertens of Belgium returns a shot to Garbine Muguruza of Spain on day one of the 2016 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Belgian qualifier Elise Mertens completed her fairytale run at the Hobart International by beating third seed Monica Niculescu 6-3 6-1 to clinch her maiden WTA Tour title on Saturday.
The 21-year-old, ranked 127th in the world, was broken in her first service game by her more experienced Romanian opponent but rallied to become the third qualifier to win the Hobart title after Mona Barthel (2012) and Garbine Muguruza (2014).
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