Kasatkina signed her pass to the round of 16 in the tournament loss; Pegula, removed

The Russian Daria Kasatkina, ninth favorite, became the first classified for the round of 16 at Roland Garros this Fridayafter defeating American Peyton Steams, 6-0 and 6-1 in just 55 minutes.

The 26-year-old semifinalist of the last edition, an expert on clay, will face off for a place in the quarterfinals against the winner of the duel between his compatriots. Anna Blinkova and the ukrainian Elina Svitolina.

Morning Surprise stars Jessica Pegulawho bid farewell to the tournament after a resounding loss (6-1, 6-3) against Elise Mertens.

The Belgian overwhelmed his rival in the first setwith no answers to the Belgian’s superior game at all levels.

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Pegula, a quarterfinalist at Roland Garros last year, improved a bit in the second round, but not enough to reverse the course of the duel, which was settled in one hour and 22 minutes.

Eventually, Mertens won all five chances on his breakjust one of six for Pegula, who also committed more unforced errors (28 vs. 13).

After Wednesday’s elimination of French Caroline García (fifth favorite), the women’s team lost one of the main players, making way for two great aspirants: the world number one, the Polish Iga Swiatek, and the number two, the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka.