Simona Halep vs Elise Mertens Tennis Prediction

Simona Halep moves into the fourth round with a straight-set win over former world #9 Andrea Petkovic (7-5 6-0). Halep’s job got easier when Petkovic jarred her knee in the second set, enabling the Romanian to secure the last 16 spot in under 90 minutes.
Halep now secured her 30th main draw win at the French Open, which includes a couple of runner-up finishes, in 2014 (l. Sharapova) and 2017 (l. Ostapenko). Halep’s last event on clay where she did not reach the last eight was the 2016 French Open (round of 16).
The world #1 had a decent but not successful clay season, which included a final at Rome (l. Svitolina) and a quarterfinal at Madrid (l. Pliskova). Halep, who has won 31 matches in 2018, heads into this match with a 4-1 season record against players ranked 11-20.
Elise Mertens, after surviving a three-hour tussle against Varvara Lepchenko (6-7 7-6 6-0) in the opening round, has breezed into her first French Open round of 16 with a couple of straight-set win over Heather Watson (6-4 6-3) and Daria Gavrilova (6-3 6-1).
Mertens made her main draw debut at the French Open in 2017, reaching the third round (l. V. Williams). A year later, she returns as a seed and has added three more WTA titles to her name, including clay ones at Rabat (d. Tomljanovic) and Lugano (d. Sabalenka).
The world #16 is seeking to back-up her Australian Open semifinal run she had earlier this year (d. Svitolina, only top 10 win of the season). It was the first time a Belgian reached a slam final four since 2013 Wimbledon (Flipkens).
Halep decimated Mertens in 77 minutes when they met for the first time in the second round of Madrid, a few weeks ago. Breaking the 22-year-old’s serve five times in the match, the Romanian won nearly 55% of Belgian’s serve points (6-2 6-0).

Tennis Prediction: Simona Halep 2-0 SET
Odds: 1.70