Madrid Open: Mertens downs Niemeier to reach fourth round

Belgian Elise Mertens, the No 24 seed, advanced to the fourth round of the Madrid Open by winning against German Jule Niemeier 6-3, 6-4 at the Caja Magica on Saturday.

Mertens, ranked No 29, will face the winner of the match between Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, the No 5 seed, and Egyptian Mayar Sherif next.

The Belgian defeated Canadian Rebecca Marino (6-3, 6-1) ahead of her victory.

In the previous rounds of the Madrid tournament, Niemeier, ranked No 67, won against Chinese Xinyu Wang (6-4, 6-2) and Czech Petra Kvitova, the No 10 seed (7-6 (9), 6-1).

Madrid WTA 1000, other first-round results (Caja Magica, clay, USD 7.652.174, most recent results first):

• Petra Martic vs. Anna Kalinskaya
• Barbora Krejcikova vs. Xiyu Wang
• Qinwen Zheng vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova
• Iga Swiatek vs. Bernarda Pera
• Lesia Tsurenko vs. Daria Kasatkina
• Veronika Kudermetova vs. Anastasia Potapova
• Martina Trevisan vs. Alycia Parks
• Jessica Pegula vs. Marie Bouzkova
• Rebeka Masarova vs. Maria Sakkari
• Caroline Garcia vs. Mayar Sherif
• Coco Gauff vs. Paula Badosa
• Mirra Andreeva vs. Magda Linette
• Liudmila Samsonova vs. Jelena Ostapenko
• Camila Osorio vs. Aryna Sabalenka: saturday
• Irina-Camelia Begu (31) beat Shelby Rogers (33): 7-5, 6-2