McCartney Kessler of the United States powered to her second career Hologic WTA Tour title on Saturday, outlasting No.2 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 to win the Hobart International in her tournament debut.
In their first meeting, World No.67 Kessler needed 2 hours and 3 minutes to topple former Top 15 player Mertens, who won her first two career titles here in Hobart in 2017 and 2018 and was the runner-up to Emma Navarro last year.
Rising American: The last 12 months have seen Kessler’s pro career flourish. Just one year ago, Kessler was ranked No.207 and making her Grand Slam main-draw debut in Melbourne, as the winner of the USTA’s wild card into the Australian Open.
Since then, it has been only up for the 25-year-old American, who played collegiate tennis at the University of Florida. In a week-long span directly before the 2024 US Open, Kessler made her Top 100 debut and won her first tour-level title at the WTA 250 event in Cleveland.
Now, the week before this year’s Australian Open, Kessler has doubled her title total with another WTA 250 trophy. This time around, she finds herself on the brink of her Top 50 debut.