Halep had sailed through the first two rounds on the Spanish clay without dropping a set but she ended up second best in a match which yielded 15 breaks of serve.
Romanian Simona Halep returns to Belgium’s Elise Mertens at the Madrid Open. Pics/Getty Images
World No. 3 Simona Halep was dumped out of the Madrid Open on Tuesday, losing 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the round of 16 to the Belgian Elise Mertens.
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Halep had sailed through the first two rounds on the Spanish clay without dropping a set but she ended up second best in a match which yielded 15 breaks of serve.
Halep produced 10 double faults in the match, Mertens nine.
Halep, a two-time Grand Slam champion and former World No. 1, was twice a break up in the final set at 3-1 and 4-3 but finally succumbed after just over two and a half hours of play.
Ashleigh Barty
In the quarter-finals 13th seed Mertens will meet the Belarusian seventh seed Aryna Sabalenka, who dispatched American Jessica Pegula 6-1, 6-2 in just 52 minutes.
Meanwhile, World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty edged the battle of the French Open champions on Monday as she beat Poland’s Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-4 to reach quarter-finals.
“I really enjoyed myself out there tonight, I enjoyed the challenge,” said Barty.
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