US Open: Ons Jabeur vs. Elise Mertens 9/3/21 Tennis Prediction

Elise Mertens (15) of Belgium will face Tunisian Ons Jabeur (20) in the Third Round of the 2021 US Open. The match is scheduled to be played on Friday September 3rd, 2021 at 4:30pm EST.

Elise Mertens and Ons Jabeur have built reputations as being two of the most reliable and consistent performers on the WTA Tour. While they are still waiting to truly break out at a major, they have had incredibly consistent results and are both very dangerous opponents. This is setting up to be a real classic, who will get the win here and advance to the Round of 16 here in New York?

Elise Mertens is the 15th seed here at the 2021 US Open and is currently ranked #16 on the WTA Tour. The Belgian is an extremely steady baseline player who very rarely gives anything away. She always is a sure bet to reach the latter rounds of events but can struggle against the top players. She has had an incredibly difficult start to her US Open campaign, saving match points before winning a tough three setter against Rebeca Peterson. She then had an easy day in the office against Greek Qualifier Valentini Grammatikopoulou, but knows that she will have to be much improved from that First Round debacle if she is to challenge Ons Jabeur here.

Ons Jabeur is seeded 20th here at the 2021 US Open and is ranked #21 on the WTA Tour. The Tunisian has one of the most unique game styles on the tour but it is very effective. Her main strength is her versatility, as she is able to do a bit of everything in order to unsettle her opponent. She can defend, attack, volley, slice and really can adapt to any situation. She has had a much better path to the Third Round than her opponent Elise Mertens, defeating Alize Cornet in two tough sets before crushing Maria Osorio Serrano for the loss of only one game. Despite her lower ranking she should be considered the slight favorite here against Mertens due to their form but it will be a very tough path to the Round of 16.

Regardless of the outcome this will be a very close match between two very experienced and intelligent players. It really can go either way, so it will simply come down to who is better on the day. Whenever there is a close match such as this you look at two things – form and experience. Since they are about the same in experience then we will go with form, and Ons Jabeur is clearly in better form at the moment. She seems confident and I think that will make the difference in this match. Elise Mertens is a fighter and will do whatever she can, but I am expecting Jabeur to pull out the extremely tight win here, and will advance to the Round of 16 at the 2021 US Open.