No. 19 seed Elise Mertens eased past Alexandra Eala in straight sets to advance to the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open on Friday. She will next face former World No. 1 Karolina Pliskova for a place in the round of 16.
Playing Eala for the second time on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, Mertens opened the match by breaking serve in Eala’s first service game. She added another break in the seventh game and then held serve to take the opening set.
Mertens, a quarterfinalist here in 2021, broke Eala twice to start the second set and added a third break in the seventh game to seal a 6-2, 6-1 victory in 1 hour, 16 minutes. She saved the only break point she faced and converted five of 11 break-point chances.
With the win, Mertens improved to 2-0 in the head-to-head series against the 20-year-old Eala and also improved to 13-7 in singles this season.
Pliskova holds off late challenge from Sakkari
Pliskova entered her match against the No. 33 seeded Maria Sakkari with a 4-3 lead in their head-to-head series. She won the first set with the only break of serve in the sixth game.
The Czech player moved ahead by a break for a 4-2 lead in the second set before Sakkari rallied to level it. Eventually, Pliskova edged the tiebreak 8-6 to complete a 6-4, 7-6 (8) win in 1 hour, 31 minutes.
Pliskova, playing in Madrid for the first time since 2022, has reached the semifinals here once, back in 2018. She improved to 8-4 this season with this win.
The third-round clash between Pliskova and Mertens will be their eighth career meeting, first since 2023, with the Czech holding a 4-3 edge in their head-to-head series.