Chwalinska dethrones defending champ Mertens to make Singapore semis

No. 5 seed Maja Chwalinska continued her surge through the Singapore Tennis Open draw by dethroning defending champion and No. 4 seed Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. The Roland Garros finalist has conceded just 11 games in three matches this week so far.

The latest of those was the most significant for a number of reasons. Chwalinska not only booked her place in her first semifinal since her shock run to the Roland Garros title match as a qualifier in June -- and her second tour-level semifinal overall -- but she notched her first win over a Top 20 opponent. Her Parisian run had featured a trio of victories over players ranked between No. 21 and No. 24 -- Mertens, Anna Kalinskaya and Diana Shnaider.

That defeat of Mertens had been one of Chwalinska's most dominant performances on the clay of Roland Garros, a 6-4, 6-0 second-round rout. She reprised it efficiently on the indoor hard courts of Singapore, once again dropping just four games to the Belgian. The 24-year-old provided no consistent rhythm for Mertens to work with, repeatedly drawing her into error by mixing up biting slices, high topspin and sudden injections of flat pace. Mertens -- who was playing her first match of the week after receiving a first-round bye and a second-round walkover from Barbora Krejcikova -- was rarely given an opportunity to settle.

Mertens had started the match with aggressive intent, advancing to net and staying with Chwalinska through the first four games. But Chwalinska steadily dismantled this strategy: from 2-2, she reeled off seven consecutive games, and nine of the next 10, to jump out to 5-1 in the second set. Mertens' error count climbed sharply to a total of 40, while Chwalinska's creativity with drop shots and lobs came increasingly to the fore as the match went on.

Though the Pole's signature game style is based around finesse rather than power, her impressive spot serving also managed to keep Mertens at bay. Winning 70% of her first serve points and 60% behind her second delivery, Chwalinska did not face a break point until the penultimate game of the match.

That proved to be Mertens' last stand as the Wimbledon quarterfinalist broke for the first time -- but an unruffled Chwalinska closed the match out on return in the next game, which featured her finest point of the match, a perfect combination of drop shot, lob and forehand pass.

"It's impossible to play great every single week, so it's just about consistency and work and you gotta be patient also," Chwalinska said in her on-court interview. "I'm happy that I stayed quite patient, I worked hard and it's paying off now. I had some tough weeks so this one tastes pretty good, I must admit."

In the semifinals, Chwalinska will take on either No. 1 seed Mirra Andreeva in what would be a rematch of the Roland Garros final, or No. 6 seed Leylah Fernandez for the first time.