Prague (AFP)
Romania's Simona Halep won the tournament in Prague, the second held on the women's circuit, behind closed doors, since the resumption of competition, beating Belgium's Elise Mertens in straight sets 6-2, 7-5 in the final.
This is the 21st career trophy for the world No.2, who was seeded No.1 in the Czech capital. The 28-year-old becomes the fifth most successful active player after Serena and Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters and Petra Kvitova.
The Wimbledon champion (2019) was a bit slow to get started, losing the first two games to the 23rd world, but once the machine started, she lined up the next six.
In the second set, Halep had a little slump that allowed the 24-year-old Belgian to go from 2-4 to 5-4, but she was able to give the last acceleration to finish in 1h 33 min.
The Romanian has still not announced if she will participate in the next US Open (August 31 - September 13 in New York). "I want to take advantage of this victory first and I will think about it afterwards," said the winner of Roland Garros in 2018.
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