Mertens takes cue from Belgian trailblazers

MELBOURNE - When Elise Mertens was growing up in the medieval city of Leuven, Belgium, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin were taking the country's tennis to new heights.

Mertens remembers, when she was 5 years old, seeing Clijsters play for the first time - in 2001, the year the four-time Grand Slam winner made her first French Open final.

"I mean, what they achieved was amazing, and of course I looked up to them," Mertens said.