Miami Open: Mertens upsets Martic to set up Rybakina showdown

Belgium’s Elise Mertens moved into the last 16 of the Miami Open by winning against Croat Petra Martic, the No 29 seed, 6-4, 6-3 at the Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday.

This was Mertens’ fourth win over Martic in as many matches.

Mertens, ranked No 39 in the world, will play Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, the No 10 seed, next. The Kazakh is on a 10-match winning streak, including winning in Indian Wells last week.

Earlier in the tournament, the Belgian defeated American Alycia Parks (6-1, 6-4) and Russian Daria Kasatkina, the No 8 seed (4-6, 6-2, 6-2).

Martic, ranked No 41, won against Chinese Xiyu Wang (6-3, 6-3) in the previous round of the Miami tournament.

Miami WTA 1000, other third-round results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 8,800,000, most recent results first):

• Elena Rybakina beat Paula Badosa (21): 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
• Martina Trevisan (25) beat Claire Liu: 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
• Jessica Pegula (3) beat Danielle Collins (30): 6-1, 7-6
• Magda Linette (20) beat Victoria Azarenka (14): 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-4
• Anastasia Potapova (27) beat Coco Gauff (6): 6-7 (8), 7-5, 6-2
• Qinwen Zheng (23) beat Liudmila Samsonova (12): 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-3
• Jelena Ostapenko (24) beat Beatriz Haddad Maia (13): 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
• Marie Bouzkova vs. Aryna Sabalenka
• Barbora Krejcikova vs. Madison Keys
• Petra Kvitova vs. Donna Vekic
• Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Belinda Bencic
• Sorana Cirstea vs. Karolina Muchova
• Bianca Andreescu vs. Sofia Kenin
• Karolina Pliskova vs. Marketa Vondrousova
• Magdalena Frech vs. Varvara Gracheva

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