Madrid (AFP)
World No. 3 Simona Halep was overthrown in the round of 16 of the Madrid tournament by the Belgian Elise Mertens (16th), victorious over the Romanian in three sets 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 on Tuesday.
Halep had completed the first two laps on Madrid clay without losing a set.
In a match where the waitresses suffered a lot, the fifteenth and final break was fatal to the Romanian.
The winner of Roland-Garros 2018 and former world No. 1 has yet twice counted a break in advance in the decisive round (3-1, then 4-3).
But she failed to maintain her advantage and ended up giving in after more than two and a half hours of play.
In total, Halep hit ten double faults, Mertens nine.
For a place in the last four, the Belgian will challenge the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (7th), who dispatched the American Jessica Pegula in 52 minutes (6-1, 6-2).
Two other quarter-finals are known: they will oppose the world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty to Petra Kvitova (12th), and the Swiss Belinda Bencic (11th) to the Spaniard Paola Badosa (62nd).
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