Belgian Elise Mertens, seeded No. 33, staged an impressive comeback to defeat American Madison Keys, seeded No. 14, with a score of 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-4 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on Friday, advancing to the round of 16 at the US Open.
This marks Mertens’ second comeback victory in the tournament, following her wins against Russian Veronika Kudermetova (3-6, 6-4, 6-3) in the first round and Australian Ajla Tomljanovic (6-3, 6-2) in the second round.
Keys, ranked No. 14, had previously defeated Katerina Siniakova (6-4, 6-1) and Australian qualifier Maya Joint (6-4, 6-0) in the earlier rounds.
Mertens, ranked No. 35, is set to face the winner of the match between Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, seeded No. 29, and Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, the second seed, in the next round.
New York (Grand Slam), other third-round results (USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, hard, USD 75,000,000, most recent results first):
- Beatriz Haddad Maia vs. Anna Kalinskaya
- Iga Swiatek vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
- Jessika Ponchet vs. Caroline Wozniacki
- Ashlyn Krueger vs. Liudmila Samsonova
- Sara Errani vs. Diana Shnaider
- Jessica Bouzas Maneiro vs. Jessica Pegula
- Yulia Putintseva vs. Jasmine Paolini
- Karolina Muchova vs. Anastasia Potapova
- Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Aryna Sabalenka
- Donna Vekic (24) beat Peyton Stearns: 7-5, 6-4
- Emma Navarro (13) beat Marta Kostyuk (19): 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
- Yafan Wang beat Victoria Azarenka (20): 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
- Coco Gauff (3) beat Elina Svitolina (27): 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
- Qinwen Zheng (7) beat Jule Niemeier: 6-2, 6-1
- Paula Badosa (26) beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse (Q): 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8)
