Despite the slow start, Simona Halep got into a very solid form at the Prague Open. She was really dominant against her last two opponents, and she will play the final against Elise Mertens.

The Romanian played four times against Mertens, including the two claycourt matches. She leads the H2H 3-1, as she didn't lose a set in two claycourt matches at the Madrid Open and Roland Garros in 2018. After her semifinal match against Irina-Camelia Begu, Halep spoke about her semifinal opponent, as well as Elise Mertens who she will meet in the final.

"I was strong enough to come back in the first set, and... when she got the medical timeout, it was good for me to just calm down. I knew that she was tired. She played so many hours, so many sets these two days, and I knew that if I stayed stronger, I had a better chance to come back and to win. "She was probably a little bit more tired than me in the second set, but I've also had some tough matches at the beginning," Halep said. "I'm happy for her also that she did semifinals. In the first tournament [back], for me to play the final, it's a nice feeling."

"The final is always difficult. It doesn't matter what we did before. I'm going to give my best because I really want to win it, but it's never easy. I'll just try to recover until tomorrow and enjoy that I'm going to play another final," Halep said. "I'm confident that I can play good tennis against her, but she's a very tough opponent as well. I'm just trying to fight, to keep fighting until the end, and to never give up."

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