Mertens no answer to hot Halep

Simona Halep (1) broke Elise Mertens (16) in the third game of their fourth round match in Paris as the 2018 Roland Garros tournament progressed towards the substantial moments.

After a close game the Romanian consolidated the break, the forehand important in moving to 3-1.

Mertens stepped up, the first serve helping her stay close at 2-3.

Halep continued her strength on serve, and the follow up produced winners or forced errors from Mertens. 4-2.

A backhand winner from Mertens was not enough to overcome three unforced errors and a backhand winner from Halep - another break and 5-2 with the top seed serving for the set.

Two shots hit long and one into the net from Mertens gave Halep two set points, and she only needed one.  A solid serve and 6-2.

Mertens served first in set two, needing desperately to hold serve.  She missed the first two points with errant forehands and the third was a Halep winner.  The second break point was converted and Halep won her fourth straight game - 1-0.

A backhand error from the Romanian left her at 15-30 but Mertens replied with two mistakes of her own and Halep used the game point well and led 2-0.

Mertens netted the first point of her next service game and pushed a backhand wide for 0-30.  Another wide reply to an attacking Halep drive followed by a netted ground stroke and Mertens was broken again.

3-0 to Halep and she was looking ever close to the finish.

Mertens had been trying too hard from the start, instead of playing her usual measured game, and now she was just running out of ideas.

Down 15-30, Halep rallied to win the game and lead 4-0, taking the last seven games.

Three break points and Mertens was going down quickly.  A ground stroke long saw the break and Halep at 5-0 was serving for the match.

Against the flow, Mertens gathered three break points, the first for her of the match.  She converted the second, and it was 1-5.  Backhands were the backbone of the game that stopped the Romanian run.

That was it for Elise and Halep moved from 30-30 to a match point on the Mertens serve.  Unfortunately a double fault ended the battle 6-2 6-1.

It was Halep at her best, certainly for this tournament, and sounding a warning to her future opponents, the next whom will be the winner of Caroline Garcia (7) and Angie Kerber (12).