Australian narrowly loses out to top seed Elise Mertens at Hobart International as she continues comeback from knee injury
Daria Saville hopes to carry some momentum into the Australian Open after her run of upset wins at the Hobart International was ended by top seed Elise Mertens. Saville, on the comeback trail after returning to the tour in June from a serious knee injury, lost to world No 29 Mertens 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 in the semi-finals on Friday.
A wildcard entry, world No 195 Saville knocked out three top 50 players in Hobart, including 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin and China’s world No 33 Zhu Lin. The 29-year-old was granted wildcard entry to the main draw at the first grand slam of the year and will meet Poland’s world No 72 Magdalena Frech in the first round.