Top seed Elise Mertens cruised into the second round at the BGL BNP Paribas in Luxembourg Open after beating lucky loser Bibiane Schoofs 6-0 6-3.
Mertens dropped just just one point on serve and lost just nine points in his bagel win after 25 minutes. Schoofs earned an early break in the opening game of the second set and held serve to open up a 2-0 lead, but Mertens reeled five games from 1-3 down. Mertens got the decisive break in the eighth game after Schoofs came back from 0-40 down to draw level at deuce.
“It’s like coming home. It’s always nice that there is a full stadium. It’s not far from home, and I really love playing here, so hopefully I can go much further than this”,said Mertens.
Andrea Petkovic came back from losing the first set to beat Camila Giorgi 0-6 6-4 6-4 after 1 hour and 59 minutes. Giorgi got an early break in the first game and held her serve after saving three break points in the second game. Giorgi broke twice in a row to take a bagel win in the opening set. Giorgi did not convert a break point in the ninth game of the second set, which would have earned a chance to serve for the match. In the 10th Petkovic got the crucial break at deuce to win the second set 6-4 forcing the match to the third set.
Petkovic and Giorgi traded breaks twice in the second and third games. Giorgi went up a 4-3 lead with a break in the seventh game, but Petkovic came back by winning the final three games with two consecutive breaks in the eighth and tenth games.
