WHAT HAPPENED: No. 33 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium withstood the power of hard-hitting Madison Keys to score a hard-fought 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4 victory in two hours and 54 minutes before an evening crowd in Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Mertens overcame 39 winners by Keys, who committed 69 unforced errors in the three-set, third-round match. Throughout the contest, Mertens was able to change the pace of her strokes, mixing up her shots and placing the ball well to keep Keys off-balance.
The opening set saw a total of six service breaks, as Mertens used slice shots to neutralize Keys' powerful groundstrokes. From 4-4, each player held serve to eventually force a deciding tiebreak.
Keys began the tiebreak with a perfectly executed down-the-line backhand return winner and proceeded to win four of the next six points to take a 5-2 lead. Mertens rallied to close the deficit, but as she served to stay in the tiebreak, trailing 5-6, she hit her seventh double fault as Keys won the first set in 68 minutes.
The second set was a reversal of the first as Keys and Mertens raised the level of their games and held serve through the first 10 games. However, Mertens scored the critical service break in the 11th game to take a 6-5 lead as Keys sailed a down-the-line forehand wide on break point. In the next game, the Belgian served out the set when Keys sent a cross-court service return long.
Mertens broke Keys at love in the seventh game of the third set and then held serve for a 5-3 lead. Keys held in the ninth game to close the gap to 5-4, but it was her last hurrah as Mertens calmly held serve and closed out the match when Keys’ down-the-line backhand went long on match point.
“We both had a great match. Credit to Madison, she’s a great player,” Mertens said after her victory. “I just kept fighting. I had those set points in the first set. I wanted to be on the court as long as possible to get the win. I’m very happy I can stay another day in New York.”
Mertens credited the night-session crowd for helping her get through the tough three-set match. “It was an amazing atmosphere. There is no crowd anywhere else like this. It’s one of my favorite tournaments and Grand Slams. It’s just such a nice place to be. I just love New York.”
WHAT IT MEANS: The 28-year-old Mertens, who is playing in her ninth US Open, improves her career US Open record to 19-8. Mertens, a two-time US Open quarterfinalist (2019, 2020), advances to Round 4, where she will meet No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka or and No. 29 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.
After her victory in Round 3, Mertens is now 2-3 in career head-to-head meetings against Keys. The Belgian fell to the 29-year-old American in their first three meetings at the US Open in 2017, the Australian Open in 2019 and at Wimbledon in 2021. In their most recent match prior to this evening, Mertens defeated Keys in the first-round at Cincinnati in 2023.
MATCH POINT: Mertens advances to Round 4 in Flushing Meadows for the first time since 2021. The Round 3 win over Keys in Louis Armstrong Stadium marks her 22nd career win over a Top 20 player.
