Elise Mertens delivers with impressive win in third round of 2023 French Open

Elise Mertens (Carine06, Wikimedia Commons)

The third round started on Friday at Roland Garros, and one of the most impressive performances came from the first match of the day. On Philippe Chartier Stadium, the 28th seed Elise Mertens of Belgium beat the number three seed Jessica Pegula of the United States, 6-1, 6-3.

What was most impressive of this match is the fact that Mertens capitalized on her opportunities. She had five break point chances and broke Pegula each time. Pegula only broke Mertens once in six chances.

Pegula also made the most mistakes. She has 28 unforced errors, compared to 13 for Mertens.

The fact that Mertens beat Pegula was not a gigantic surprise. Even though Mertens is the 28th seed and Pegula is the third seed at Roland Garros, Mertens has the best Grand Slam result of the two players. Mertens reached the semifinals of the 2018 Australian Open, while Pegula has not made the final four at a major as of yet. The Buffalo native has reached five grand slam quarterfinals, but despite her high seed, has not done any serious damage at one of the four major tennis tournaments in her career.

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You would expect the time should be coming soon for Pegula. She has won two career titles. The first came at the 2019 Washington Open, where she beat Camila Giorgi of Italy in the final 6-2, 6-2. The second came at the 2022 Guadalajara Open in Mexico, where Pegula beat Maria Sakkari of Greece, 6-2, 6-3. Until Pegula makes at least the semifinal of a major, one should question her high ranking of number three in the world.

Should Pegula be ranked number three? What do you think?

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