The highest women's seed yet to fall in the French Open tumbled on Friday, as three-seeded Jessica Pegula lost in straight sets to Elise Mertens.

Mertens, the 28th seed in the women's draw, cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 win over Pegula, her third win in as many tries against the American. It took Mertens just 26 minutes to take the first set.

Pegula's struggles against Mertens continue as she is now 0-3 against the Belgian in her career. She lost to Mertens with the same scoreline in their first matchup in 2020, then did not win a game in a deciding third set in their second matchup in 2021.

Pegula, currently the highest-ranked American woman, reached three Grand Slam quarterfinals last year, including at Roland Garros. She did not make it past the third round in her other four appearances in the main draw of the French Open.

Mertens is one of the best doubles players in the world, having won three Grand Slam titles in doubles. She reached a major semifinal in singles at the 2018 Australian Open and is now in the fourth round at the French Open for the third time. Roland Garros is the only Grand Slam she has not won in doubles. She and her partner Storm Sanders are the third-seed in the women's doubles draw.

Mertens has a solid chance to reach her fourth career singles quarterfinal at this year's French Open. She'll face unseeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the fourth round, who was a finalist at Roland Garros in 2021. Pavlyuchenkova was oft-injured last season and finds herself currently outside the top 500 in the WTA rankings.