French Open 2023: Elise Mertens causes huge upset with emphatic victory over Jessica Pegula
Elise Mertens produced the biggest upset of the French Open women’s draw so far as she dismantled third seed Jessica Pegula with a 6-1 6-3 third-round victory. Pegula had not played much in the previous round with her opponent, Camila Giorgi, having to retire after just one set. Ad The American was nevertheless the favourite after reaching quarter-finals in four of the last five Grand Slams, including last year at Roland-Garros, but she was outclassed by Mertens on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Roland-Garros'She's having a ball out there' – Mertens wins point against Pegula after intense rally41 MINUTES AGO The Belgian, seeded 28th in Paris, has matched her best-ever Paris campaign by reaching the fourth round, where she will face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or Anastasia Potapova. «I am very happy to win in two sets. I thought I played well.
I love playing on this amazing court,» Mertens said. «In the first set, I played well, and it was straightforward, but it was much tougher in the second, especially the game at 4-3. I was very happy to win that.
I never knew how it could turn thereafter.» Mertens got off to a flying start by breaking Pegula at the first time of asking between two solid holds. The Belgian made it a double-break to set alarm bells ringing for a potential upset, before holding to move a game away from the set. Pegula eventually got on the board to avoid the bagel, but couldn’t make any progress on Mertens’ serve as the 28th seed served out at the first time of asking to take the opener in 29 minutes.