Keys battles past valiant Mertens to extend winning streak and reach last 16 in Indian Wells

Winning is becoming a habit for Madison Keys, it seems, and sometimes it doesn’t matter how you play, just how you finish.

The American, who won her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, led Elise Mertens by a set and 3-0 but spent another hour and then some on the court before finally edging out the No 28 seed 6-2, 6-7 (8), 6-4 on Monday to book her place in the last 16 of the Indian Wells WTA 1000.

As Mertens battled back, saving four match points in the second set to force a decider, Keys’ serve was wavering but despite 12 double faults, the 30-year-old kept going for it on her groundstrokes and it paid off as she made it 14 wins in a row.

“It’s always tough when you feel like you’re not playing your best against someone who is really tricky and against whom you’ve had some really tough battles, said Keys, who plays either American Emma Navarro, the No 10 seed, or Croatia’s Donna Vekic, the No 19 seed., next.

“So it was definitely kind of frustrating out there today, lots of ups and downs, but to be able to figure that out and get the win is all it takes, sometimes, and it’s just about surviving.”

In the previous round of the Indian Wells tournament, the American won against Russian Anastasia Potapova (6-3, 6-0).

Mertens, ranked No 28, beat Australian qualifier Kimberly Birrell (6-4, 7-5) in the previous round of the Indian Wells tournament.

Indian Wells WTA 1000, other third-round results (Indian Wells Tennis Garden, hard, USD 8.963.700, most recent results first):

• Jaqueline Cristian vs. Jasmine Paolini
• Emma Navarro vs. Donna Vekic
• Daria Kasatkina vs. Liudmila Samsonova
• Aryna Sabalenka vs. Lucia Bronzetti
• Belinda Bencic vs. Diana Shnaider
• Coco Gauff vs. Maria Sakkari: monday
• Polina Kudermetova vs. Sonay Kartal: monday
• Qinwen Zheng (8) beat Lulu Sun: 6-4, 7-5
• Mirra Andreeva (9) beat Clara Tauson (22): 6-3, 6-0
• Elina Svitolina (23) beat Danielle Collins (14): 6-2, 6-4
• Jessica Pegula (4) beat Xinyu Wang: 6-2, 6-1
• Karolina Muchova (15) beat Katerina Siniakova: 7-5, 6-1
• Elena Rybakina (7) beat Katie Boulter (25): 6-0, 7-5
• Iga Swiatek (2) beat Dayana Yastremska: 6-0, 6-2
• Marta Kostyuk (18) beat Caroline Dolehide (WC): 6-3, 6-3