Prague Open: Simona Halep beats Elise Mertens in final
- Published
The Prague Open is Halep's 21st victory on the WTA Tour
Simona Halep won her first title since before the coronavirus lockdown at the Prague Open with a straight-set victory over Elise Mertens.
The Romanian world number two beat Belgium's Mertens 6-2 7-5 for her first title on clay since the 2018 French Open.
Halep, 28, becomes only the second top seed to win the Prague Open, after Karolina Pliskova did so in 2015.
In the United States, American Jennifer Brady won the Top Seed Open.
Victory in the Czech capital gave Halep her second title of 2020 after she won February's Dubai Tennis Championships - her last tournament before the WTA Tour was suspended because of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
The win is her 21st on the WTA Tour, placing her fifth among current players behind Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters and Petra Kvitova.
Brady's 6-3 6-4 victory against Switzerland's Jil Teichmann in the Top Seed Open final gave the 25-year-old her first career WTA title.
Brady beat compatriot Coco Gauff in the semi-finals, while Serena Williams was knocked out in the quarter-finals.
The hard court tournament in Lexington, Kentucky was the first WTA event in the United States since the tour was suspended, with the US Open due to begin on 31 August.
The victory at the Top Seed Open was Jennifer Brady's first WTA title