McCartney Kessler of the United States Triumphs at 2025 Hobart International
The American defeated 2017 and 2018 champion Elise Mertens of Belgium
McCartney Kessler of the United States, 25, defeated Elise Mertens of Belgium, 29, to win the Women’s Singles title at the 2025 Hobart International in Hobart, Australia (a WTA 250 event). The score in the final was 6-4, 3-6 and 6-0 in favor of Kessler.
This was the first match Kessler and Mertens have ever played against each other on the WTA Tour. Today’s victory was the first title Kessler has won on the 2025 WTA Tour and the second title of her career in single’s competition. Both of her titles have come from hard court events at the 250-level. Notably, an American player has won the title in Hobart for the past three years - with Kessler joining Lauren Davis in 2023 and Emma Navarro in 2024.
Heading into this tournament, Mertens was ranked as the Number 34 tennis player on the 2025 WTA Tour, while Kessler carried the Number 67 designation. By winning in Hobart, Kessler has received 250 points in the overall rankings. Meanwhile, Mertens has picked up 163 points.
Instead of defending the title, Navarro opted to compete at the 2025 Adelaide International where she lost in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Mertens was the event’s second seed while Kessler entered the main draw as an unseeded player.
Kessler arrived in the final after winning against seventh seed Rebecca Šramková of Slovakia (No. 49), qualifier María Lourdes Carlé of Argentina (No. 96), top seed Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine (No. 33), and sixth seed Elina Avanesyan of Armenia (No. 44). This was the second WTA final she has contested.
In the other half of the main draw, Mertens defeated qualifier Nuria Párrizas Díaz of Spain (No. 104), lucky loser Renata Zarazúa of Mexico (No. 76), Veronika Kudermetova of Russia (No. 77), and wildcard Maya Joint of Australia (No. 118). This was the 14th WTA final she has competed in.
The revised rankings for the 2025 WTA Tour will be officially released on Monday, January 12. From January 12-26, the ATP and WTA Tours will compete in the first Grand Slam of the year: the Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia. The competition will be played on hard courts.
Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus (No. 1) is the two-time reigning champion at the Australian Open. She is looking to defend the title as the event’s top seed and become the first player to win three consecutive Australian Open titles since Martina Hingis of Switzerland in 1999. Moreover, Sabalenka alongside Iga Świątek of Poland (No. 2) and Coco Gauff of the United States (No. 3) are in contention for the World Number 1 ranking based on the results.
Kessler and Mertens have also entered the main draw of the Grand Slam as unseeded players. In the first round, Kessler will battle wildcard Zhang Shuai of China (No. 205) while Martens will face off against qualifier Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland (No. 90).