Jessica Pegulathe highest-ranked American man or woman, was upset in the third round of Roland-Garros.
Elise Mertensthe 28th seeded Belgian, rebounded third seeded Pegula 6-1, 6-3 to reach the round of 16. Pegula, 29, at the height of his career, had lost in the quarter-finals of four of the previous five majors.
Trailing 4-3 in the second set, Pegula wasted three break points in 14 minutes of play. Mertens then broke Pegula to shut it down.
Pegula exit leaves No. 6 seed Coco Gaufflast year’s runner-up, as the latest seed hopes to become the first American to win a major title since Sofia Kenin at the 2020 Australian Open. The duration of 11 majors without an American champion is the longest for American women since Monica Seles won the Australian Open in 1996.
FRENCH OPEN DRAW: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule
Mertens, who lost in the third or fourth round of the last six French Open, faces a Russian Anastasia in the fourth round: Pavlyuchenkova or Potapova.
Earlier, Russian ninth seed Daria Kasatkina became the first player to reach the fourth round. She won 6-0, 6-1 over the 69th-ranked American Peyton Stearnthe 2022 NCAA champion from Texas.
Sloane Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion, is the only American who remains in the bottom half of the table. She plays the Kazakh Yulia Putintseva later Friday. Gauf, Bernarda Pera And Kayla Day stay in the top half.
Friday’s Featured Men’s Matches: Seeded Carlos Alcaraz against the 26th seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada, and No. 3 Novak Djokovic against number 29 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina from Spain.
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Jessica Pegula upset in French Open third round originally appeared on NBCSports.com