Elise Mertens got Belgium off to a strong start on the first day of United Cup play in Sydney on Saturday by beating China’s Zhu Lin 6-2, 6-2 in Group B action. However, China ultimately prevailed in the tie following Zhang Zhizhen’s win over Zizou Bergs and the country’s win in mixed doubles at Ken Rosewall Arena.
The top-ranked player from her country on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, Mertens kicked off her 12th WTA tour-level season in style with a 1 hour and 18-minute victory — her fourth in five career meetings with former World No. 31 Zhu.
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The 31-year-old from China had a resurgent second half of 2025 after seeing her position in the PIF WTA Rankings plummet due to an elbow injury. Ranked No. 493 in August, Lin reached the fourth round of the WTA 1000 event in Montreal, and begins 2026 ranked No. 168. But, on the whole, Mertens proved too much for the Chinese No. 6 to handle.
She broke serve six times in victory, won five of the first six games, and four straight from 1-1 in the second set — even though she landed less than than 50% of first serves in set two.
“I’m very happy to be back and to start on a good note,” Mertens said afterwards. “First match is about getting the balls, getting the mentality and everything, so I’m very happy that I could close out this one.”
In the men’s singles, Zhang battled to a 6-7(2), 7-6(3), 7-5 victory against Bergs in 2 hours and 53 minutes to knot things at 1-1.
“I think he was serving really well and then I didn’t have a chance,” Zhang said in his on-court interview. “Second serves he was making 180 kilometers [an hour], which I couldn’t react to that fast. But I’m super happy that I was surviving [for the] team until the end. I didn’t give up and kept the same patience. We were both playing a really good match today.”
There was not a service break in the match until 5-5 in the deciding set, when Bergs missed an inside-out forehand to allow Zhang to serve out the match.
The Chinese star, who missed six months last season due to a shoulder injury, hit 12 aces and did not face a break point to survive Bergs’ 18-ace barrage. Zhang, the former No. 31 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, earned 10 break points in the match and finally converted nearly three hours into the showdown to keep his country’s hopes in the tie alive.
After Zhang’s singles match, he partnered with Zhu Lin and the pair defeated Bergs and Mertens 5-7, 7-6 (5), [10-6] in the deciding mixed doubles.
“In doubles we just needed to win a set plus a super tie-break,” Zhang said. “We just really [used] the first set to try to play more and to try more things in the service games and then to be prepared for the second set and hopefully the third set.”
China let slip a 5-1 lead in the second set and Belgium was within two points of clinching the tie twice — at 6-5, 30-30 in the second set and then at 5-5 in the second-set tie-break.
Zhang dominated play in many of the key moments, but in the critical 5-5 point, Zhu showed great defensive volleys to avoid giving Belgium match point. They then surged to the lead in the 10-point match tie-break and closed out the clash after captain Wu Di called timeout at 9-6 before Zhang’s final serve.
“It was the first time we’ve played mixed doubles together and thank you to Triple Z, I got a good partner today,” Lin said. “He just played a three-hour match and then continued to play mixed doubles with me. It wasn’t easy. It was a great performance today and thank you for all the crowd and for the support, it really means a lot to us.”