Garcia gets past Mertens at Western & Southern Open

French qualifier Caroline Garcia defeated Belgian Elise Mertens 6-4, 7-5 to advance to the quarter-finals of the Western & Southern Open at the Linder Tennis Family Center in Cincinnati on Thursday evening.

Garcia, ranked No 35, will play the winner of the match between American Jessica Pegula, the No 7 seed, and No 10 seed Emma Raducanu next.

Ahead of her victory, the Frenchwoman won against Croat lucky loser Petra Martic (6-3, 6-3) and Greek Maria Sakkari, the No 4 seed (7-6 (2), 6-7 (6), 6-1).

Mertens, ranked No 33, beat Ukrainian qualifier Anhelina Kalinina (6-1, 6-1) and Czech Karolina Pliskova, the No 14 seed (7-6 (3), 6-3) in the previous rounds of the Cincy Open.

Cincinnati WTA 1000, other round of 16 results:

• Aryna Sabalenka vs. Shelby Rogers
• Jessica Pegula vs. Emma Raducanu
• Ajla Tomljanovic vs. Veronika Kudermetova
• Madison Keys beat Iga Swiatek (1): 6-3, 6-4
• Shuai Zhang beat Anett Kontaveit (2): 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
• Petra Kvitova beat Ons Jabeur (5): 6-1, 4-6, 6-0
• Elena Rybakina beat Alison Riske-Amritraj: 6-2, 6-4