Top seed Simona Halep and unseeded Elise Mertens triumphed in three sets on Friday to make the final of the Qatar Total Open in Doha.
Halep reached her 34th career final by ending her negative trend against Elina Svitolina, beating the Ukrainian after recovering from a 4-1 deficit in the third set. The fourth-seeded Svitolina had three chances to go 5-1 up in the decider, but Halep won five games in a row to triumph 6-3 3-6 6-4.
In the second semifinal on Friday, Belgium’s Mertens beat third seed Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-4 2-6 6-1 and reached her biggest career final, in which she will face her third straight Top 10 opponent.
Our photographer Jimmie48 worked at both singles semifinals, as well as at both doubles semifinals which saw fourth seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Demi Schuurs set up a final meeting with Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan.
MORE QATAR TOTAL OPEN 2019 PHOTOS:
- Thursday: Halep, Svitolina, Kerber, Mertens win quarterfinals
- Wednesday: Quarterfinals set, Halep and Kerber deliver after Pliskova withdrawal
- Tuesday: Top seed Halep arrives, first-round action completes
- Monday: Players’ party
- Sunday: Second round of qualifying
