French Open 2024: Rybakina beats Mertens to reach last 16

Fourth seed Rybakina goes on to play either Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, seeded 15th or Ana Bogdan of Romania.

Elena Rybakina plays a backhand against Elise Mertens in the Women’s Singles third-round match during Day Seven of the 2024 French Open at Roland Garros on June 01, 2024, in Paris, France. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

World number four Elena Rybakina continued to fly under the radar as she enjoyed a routine 6-4 6-2 win over Belgium’s Elise Mertens at the French Open on Saturday to ease into the fourth round.

Rybakina, a former Wimbledon champion, is looking to improve her best performance as quarter-finalist on the Paris red clay, in 2021.

The Russian-born Kazakh lost her serve twice in the first set but maintained the upper hand by breaking all of the Belgian’s remaining serves in the set.

Strong shots and better serving in the second set allowed the 24-year-old Rybakina to end the match in little over an hour.

“In the second set, I was playing with a bit more confidence, and my serve improved,” Rybakina said.

The two women had met five times previously, with the Kazakh leading by four wins to one.

In the fourth round, Rybakina will face Ukraine’s 19th-ranked Elina Svitolina or 64th-ranked Romanian Ana Bogdan.

Local fans serenade newly French Gracheva with national anthem

French fans gave a loud rendition of the national anthem “La Marseillaise” for Varvara Gracheva after the Russian-born player beat Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu on Saturday in her first Roland Garros as a local since switching nationality last year.

Gracheva closed out a hard-fought 7-5 6-3 victory and joined in the singing as she celebrated being the last Frenchwoman left in the women’s draw.

“I will remember this moment until the end of my life,” said Gracheva, who received her French passport in 2023 after living in the country for more than five years. “It means that everyone accepts me, that I’m home here.”

Ranked 39 at the start of the year, her best career ranking, Gracheva fell to 100th place in April after six consecutive tournaments where she was eliminated in the first round.

“At the start of the year I was in some despair, I was very frustrated,” she said. “If someone had told me that I would be playing on the Suzanne Lenglen I wouldn’t have believed it,” she said with a big smile.

Gracheva, ranked 88 and who has never won a tournament, beat sixth-ranked Maria Sakkari in the first round.

She will face 38th-ranked Russian Mirra Andreeva or 62nd-ranked American Peyton Stearns in what will be her first fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament.

“I’m just happy to be here, if I can go even further, that’s a bonus. I’m proud,” she said.