French Open: Mertens trounces Pegula in straight sets, advances to fourth round

Elise Mertens of Belgium knocked out world No.3 American Jessica Pegula with a 6-1, 6-3 win

Paris: Elise Mertens of Belgium knocked out world No.3 American Jessica Pegula with a 6-1, 6-3 win and advanced to the fourth round of the French Open, here on Friday.

Mertens has now won all three of her encounters against Pegula, who was a quarter-finalist in Paris last year, including a streak of 15 straight games.

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The Belgian is into the last 16 at Roland-Garros for a second straight year, and a third time overall (2018, 2022 and 2023). She has now tallied 13 second-week runs across her 25 career Grand Slam main-draw appearances.

Mertens will next face Russian, Anastasia Potapova or 2021 finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

On the other hand, Pegula’s campaign at Roland Garros is not over as she is through to the women’s doubles second round with Coco Gauff.

The pair reached the final in 2022, and the semifinals at the Australian Open earlier this year.