Gabriela Ruse tilts after almost two hours of play

Romanian tennis player Gabriela Ruse was defeated by Belgian Elise Mertens, with 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), on Sunday, in the final of the WTA 250 tournament at ‘S-Hetogenbosch (Netherlands), equipped with total prizes of 239,212 euros.

Ruse (27 years, 80 WTA), coming from qualifications, was inclined after almost two hours of play (1 h 57 min).

In the first set, Ruse led by 3-1, but lost five consecutive jams (3-6). In the second act, the Romanian had two chances of break at 5-4, but missed both and gave in to tiebreak (4-7).

For Gabriela Ruse this was the fourth WTA final in the career and the first on the grass, after winning the title in Hamburg (2021) and reached the last act in Palermo (2021) and Transylvania Open (2023). It should be noted that only in Cluj-Napoca she was on the main table, otherwise coming from qualifications.

Mertens (29 years, 25 WTA), the third favorite, also won its first three confrontations with Russian, in 2022 in the first round at Roland Garros, 6-3, 6-1, in 2023 in the last round of qualifications in Doha, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, and also in 2023 in optim at Monterrey, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

The Romanian was chosen with a check of 18,685 euros and 181 WTA points.

Mertens passed the tenth title to the simple, after the ones from Hobart-2017, Hobart, Lugano, Rabat-all in 2018, Doha-2019, Gippsland Trophy-2021, Monastir-2022, Monastir-2023, Singapore-2025.