Melbourne, Jan 17 (IANS): Belgium's Elise Mertens on Thursday beat Russian Margarita Gasparyan 6-1, 7-5 to move to the third round of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park.
Seeded 12th, Mertens had no difficulty in getting past the unseeded world No. 91 Gasparyan, whose best performance in the year's opening Grand Slam came in 2016 when she lost to Serena Williams in the round-of-16, reports Efe news.
The Belgian will next play 17th seed Madison Keys of the United States, who beat Russia's Anastasia Potapova in her second-round match.
Mertens reached the semi-finals in last year's Australian Open, where she lost to eventual winner Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark.