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FOLLOW
Elise Mertens reached the quarter-finals of the Jasmin Open for the second straight year on Wednesday. The second seed from Belgium, who’s also attempting to retain her title in the Tunisian tournament this year, defeated Iryna Shyamanovich in their round-of-16 meeting.
Mertens needed an hour and 22 minutes to score a 6-3, 6-2 win. Mertens landed in 20 points on her first serve of which she won 17. She also put in 20 points on her second serve, winning 11 of these. Shyamanovich put in more first-serve points (38) but could only win 24 of these.
The higher-ranked player also won 16 of 23 points played on Shyamanovich’s second serve. For the match, Mertens lost her serve only once. This break of serve came about in the first set, which was the only time in the match she faced a break point.
She converted five of nine break points that came up on Shyamanovich’s serve.
Jasmin Open: Italians dominate
Looking to reach the semi-finals next, Mertens will play Mai Hontama. The Japanese won an even more straightforward second-round match against Nadia Podoroska.
After just 69 minutes of play, Hontama secured a 6-2, 6-1 win. Hontama dropped only five points of the 22 points played on her first serve. She also won 23 of 36 points played on return on the Argentine’s first serve.
As with Mertens, Hontama, too, lost her serve once after failing to save what was the lone break point she faced in the match. She also made good of five of nine break point chances that headed her way. Two Italians clinched their quarter-final spots at the Jasmin Open.
The Italian derby between Sara Errani and Lucia Bronzetti saw the latter prevail. Bronzetti, the sixth seed, won 6-3, 6-4. Meanwhile, Lucrezia Stefanini got past Katerzyna Kawa of Poland, 6-4, 6-1 in their clash. Bronzetti could play another Italian Jasmine Paolini in the quarters.
