WHAT HAPPENED: The match between the Ons Jabeur of Tunisia and Elise Mertens of Belgium was, on paper, the most competitive of the day based on their seedings, No. 15 and 20 respectively. For most of the 6-3, 7-5 match, it wasn’t close.
Mertens, twice a US Open quarterfinalist, controlled the proceedings from the beginning. Jabeur found new life on the brink of defeat, but wasn’t consistent enough to turn the match around completely. Jabeur finished the match with 31 unforced errors, nearly half of Mertens’s total points won.
Mertens didn’t look like a woman who played for three hours and 40 minutes in Round 1, tied for the longest women’s match of the tournament so far. She moved beautifully coming forward, never looked rushed, and chose nearly all the right shots to keep Jabeur uncomfortable.
Mertens rushed her opponent with depth and reset points with high balls at all the right moments. Frustrated, Jabeur missed her trademark angles and slices by inches. She double-faulted on break points twice in the first set and threw in 14 more errors to just four for Mertens. On set point, Jabeur misjudged an overhead at the baseline and sidearmed a forehand that sailed long.
It was feeling like one of those charmed nights for the Belgian as she coasted to an early-break lead in the second set, perfect at net and on break points—until Jabeur finally got a hold of a point and broke back at 0-2 on her third chance of the game. Then she held easily with better first serves.
Jabeur let go of the momentum in the next game by dumping an overhead into the net from close range to put Mertens up 3-2, on serve. She double-faulted in the following game and lost it on a stinger of a point that she should have won. After Jabeur thumped a forehand approach, Mertens lunged for it and popped up a forehand lob. Jabeur let it bounce and hammered it right down the middle—where Mertens was waiting to flick a lob that landed right on the line. It was an example of the entire match writ small. Mertens then held at love for 5-2.
But not so fast. Jabeur held at love for 3-5, finally landing a flashy running forehand crosscourt, and a smash—the kind of energized shots that were eluding her until then—and with the help of Mertens’s fourth double fault, Jabeur was back in it at 5-5.
“She was playing a bit better, less mistakes, a bit more aggressive,” Mertens says.
Jabeur earned a break point with another chance at that baseline overhead she’d missed to lose the first; this time, she carved it perfectly for a wicked slice smash that curled off the court. But inconsistency did her in as she made four unforced errors in the last game to send Mertens into Round 4.
"I had the feeling that when I was playing a bit back that she really pushed me, so I had to play aggressive. I had to push through, which I did,” Mertens says. ”I was happy that I took that game [at 5-5], actually, because it could go either way in the second set. I’m very proud I could win in two.”
WHAT IT MEANS: There’s a tendency to underappreciate Mertens. That said, we didn’t learn anything new about the 25-year-old tonight. She has a steady history of beating the players she should but not pulling off an upset. She has reached the third round at 16 consecutive Grand Slams, which is remarkable. The consistency has led to one major semifinal and two major quarterfinals, and her steadiness could be the key to overcoming her next opponent, if it’s her former doubles partner, No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka. Mertens’s stubborn refusal to miss—and the toughness that helped her fight off six match points in Round 1—could be Sabalenka’s kryptonite if the massively aggressive Belarussian gives up a lot of free points.
“After the six match points I had [against me] in the first round, mentally I am prepared for a battle, for sure,” Mertens says. “You have to play your best tennis to win here, and that’s what I am trying to grow into in this tournament.”
MATCH POINT: While Mertens played a marathon Round 1 singles match, her opening doubles match with Su-Wei Hsieh was over in 43 minutes with a 6-0, 6-0 score.
Watch: Mertens vs. Jabeur, Round 3 Highlights
