Jessica Pegula, the world number three, saw her hopes of winning her first Grand Slam title come to an end on Friday after losing to Belgium's Elise Mertens 6-1, 6-3 in the third round of the French Open. Pegula had no response to Mertens's performance.
Mertens utilized all her weapons, including forehand shots, short balls behind the net, and deep groundstrokes to move her opponent around and keep her pinned at the back.
Mertens's performance was nearly flawless at the beginning, breaking the American's serve twice in a row to take a 5-0 lead and clinching the first set in just 26 minutes.
Pegula earned a rare break point when the score was 3-2, but she hit three consecutive backhands into the net. Mertens capitalized on Pegula's low first serve points to break her serve again, extending her lead to 5-3, leaving Pegula frustrated, shaking her head and looking to her coaching team for any assistance.
Her ordeal ended after 82 minutes when she committed her 28th unforced error.
