Aryna Sabalenka and Elise Mertens, who won a tournament together last month as doubles partners, will now become rivals when they meet for the Linz Open singles title.

The two pals battled through their semi-finals on Saturday, with Belarusian world No.11 Sabalenka first to progress with a hard-earned 7-5 4-6 6-3 win against Barbora Krejcikova, of the Czech Republic.

Belgium’s second-seeded Mertens then also needed three sets to see off Ekaterina Alexandrova 2-6 6-1 7-5.

The finalists first won a first grand slam doubles title together at last year’s 2019 US Open and they paired up again successfully for another triumph at last month’s Ostrava Open.

Victory for Sabalenka means she has secured her first year-end top-10 finish and the 22-year-old looked in control after claiming the opening set, then moving 2-0 ahead in the second.

Krejcikova, though, responded with a couple of breaks to send the match into a decider.

Sabalenka kept her composure to push through a key break in the eighth game and then claimed a first match point chance.

Earlier, Alexandrova, the fourth seed and 2018 runner-up, looked on course for another comfortable victory after racing though the opening set against Mertens.

But the Belgian, who reached the quarter-finals of the US Open, rallied and two early breaks saw her move 4-0 ahead in the second set before levelling the match.

Mertens was 5-3 in front in the decider, only for Alexandrova to recover to 5-5 before another break back put the Belgian on the brink of victory in a final set which lasted just over an hour.