The 2026 grass-court swing begins in Den Bosch on Day 1, and Bianca Andreescu is in the frame for one of the tournament’s sharpest early questions: can she handle Elise Mertens on a surface that should suit the Belgian’s rhythm? The prediction here is for Mertens to win in three sets.
That call has weight because Den Bosch is not just another stop on the calendar. It is a WTA 250 opening the grass season, with six matches scheduled on Day 1, and Mertens arrives as the defending champion after winning this tournament last year. She also reached the semifinals on her last two visits to Den Bosch, and one of those runs came after saving 11 match points in last year’s semifinal before finishing the week with the trophy.
Andreescu gives the match its name value. She has not been inside the Top 100 for exactly a year, but she did manage two main draw wins on clay this season, even if that momentum was checked when she was knocked out of French Open qualifying. That mix makes her a difficult read entering grass: capable of brief, dangerous stretches, but still searching for the level that once made her a headline act in these draws. Ekaterina Alexandrova, who won the title on debut in Den Bosch three seasons ago and has made the semifinals in each of her last two visits, shows how quickly this event can reward players who settle early on the surface.
Mertens, by contrast, looks built for the transition. She carried a 5-4 record on clay into Den Bosch, which is hardly dominant, but it does not need to be when the tour turns to grass and points shorten. The cleaner read is that her timing, her past success here and her comfort in pressure moments give her the edge over Andreescu, even if the Canadian can make her work for it. The opening-day match should tell us whether Andreescu can turn a difficult spring into a real grass-court start, or whether Mertens begins another run in the place where she already knows how to finish.
