Coco Gouf overcomes his late nerves to beat Maria Saccari 7-6 (1), 6-2, reaching the 16th round at Indian Wells on Monday.
No. 3 seed Gauff produced his sixth double fault until the final match before closing out with a forehand winner and a sixth match point.
“Except for the last game, I thought I had a great game. I’m just trying to see something positive,” Gouf said. “Obviously, I was a bit disappointed with the last game, but that’s my perfectionist.”
She will then play Belinda Bensik. He has been defeated twice before.
“It was a bit tricky condition. I think we both had a bit of a struggle to find the rhythm. I was trying to stay solid at the end of the court,” Gauff said.
After trading again early in the second set, Gauff defeated Sakkari, breaking love in the fifth game and seemed ready to escape with momentum.
However, the serving struggle she fought hard to overcome was forced to undermine her best efforts towards the end, and save four breakpoints in the final game.
“It’s always an honor and privilege to play in front of this crowd,” Gauff said, giving credit to partisan American fans who used her across the California Desert finish line.
The newly-built Australian Open Champion Keys saved 12 of the 15 breakpoints they faced to secure their 14th match victory despite running away four match points in the second set.
The fifth seed key, who lost to Mertens in the previous two meetings, fired five aces to set up a fourth round meeting with Dona Bekic, who defeated America’s Emmavaro 7-6 (5), 6-1.
“In Australia, I played really good tennis, but the further I’m from then, the more I forget about the lulls of the game and the moments when you didn’t play great,” Keys said. “As great as Australia, all the wins I got were still in a match where I played great and things couldn’t get away from me.
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, using her powerful serve, defeated Lucia Bronzetti 6-1, 6-2, bringing the best shape to the Indian Wells after suffering from the Qatar Open and early exit in Dubai.
It didn’t take Sabalenka to adapt to windy conditions as Sabalenka ran through the first set and quickly recovered after dropping his serve at the second early stage. She will then play Sonay Cartal, the lucky loser of the UK.
“It wasn’t as easy as I could see the score. It was a tough situation and I was happy with the way I managed it,” Sabalenka said.
No. 6 seed Jasmine Parini defeated Jacqueline Christian 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the evening session.
Reuters contributed to this report.