World number three Jessica Pegula’s hopes of hoisting her maiden Grand Slam trophy ended in despair on Friday after a 6-1 6-3 defeat by Belgian Elise Mertens in the French Open third round.
The 29-year-old Pegula had no answer to Mertens’ versatile game. Former doubles world number one Mertens used her complete arsenal of shots, including sliced forehands, drop shots, lobs and deep groundstrokes to move her opponent around and pin her back.
Mertens, ranked 28th, was near flawless at the start, breaking the American twice in a row to race to a 5-0 lead and bag the first set in just 26 minutes.
Pegula, who had advanced into the third round after her ailing Italian opponent Camila Giorgi retired after the first set, broke Mertens early in the second but the Belgian responded in the next game.
Pegula earned another rare break point at 3-2 but sunk a three consecutive backhands into the net.
The 27-year-old Belgian took advantage of Pegula’s low first serve percentage to break her again and move 5-3 clear, leaving the frustrated American to shake her head and look at her coaching box for any help.
Her ordeal was over after 82 minutes with her 28th unforced error.
Sabalenka hurries into French Open fourth round
Aryna Sabalenka wasted no time as she whizzed into the fourth round of the French Open with a 6-2 6-2 drubbing of Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia.
Strong on serve, the world number two broke twice in the opening set and raced to a 3-0 lead in the second on a sunbathed court Philippe Chatrier to set up a meeting with American Sloane Stephens or Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.
Sabalenka, who beat world number one Iga Swiatek in the Madrid Open final last month, has yet to lose a set in the tournament and has now broken her third-round loss streak in Paris.
The Belarusian, whose run at Roland Garros was stopped at that stage in the three previous editions, was always in control and despite some minor blips, faced only one break point – which she saved with a second-serve ace.
“It feels amazing to feel the support and just to be on this court and have the opportunity to play tennis,” the Australian Open champion said after an encounter that lasted a little over an hour.
“Every tournament is different, Roland Garros is especially different from the Australian Open because of the surface but winning gives you confidence.”