Australian Open champion Madison Keys had to draw on all of her Slam-winning resilience to extend her winning streak to 14 matches in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open. The No. 5 seed emerged a 6-2, 6-7(8), 6-4 victor over Elise Mertens after 2 hours and 48 minutes, but had to bounce back after losing a 5-3 lead, and missing four match points, in the second set. 

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The result overturned past history for Keys in two ways. Mertens has been a thorn in her side in recent years, winning their past two meetings; before Monday, Keys had not beaten the Belgian since Wimbledon 2021. And Indian Wells has rarely been a site where Keys has thrived: she came into this year's event with a negative 10-11 record at the tournament, and she is now into the last 16 for just the third time.

Keys has now won all nine three-set matches she has played in 2025. In fact, the last time she lost a deciding set was to Mertens, a 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4 heartbreaker in the fourth round of last year's US Open. She will next face either No. 10 seed Emma Navarro or No. 19 seed Donna Vekic as she bids to reach the quarterfinals here for the second time following her 2022 run.

Match moments: Despite a patchy opening set in which both players' unforced errors outweighed their winners, Keys appeared to be cruising as she built a 6-2, 3-0 lead. She had saved all six break points she faced in the first set, and a seventh at the start of the second, slamming unreturnable serves on four of those points. The American then came through a titanic tussle for 2-0, firing a return winner to convert her seventh break point of the game, then consolidated with an inside-out forehand that drew gasps for its sheer pace.

Even when Mertens began her comeback, Keys kept her nose in front with more clutch aggression. She was pegged back to 3-3, but unleashed a barrage of forehands to edge out to 5-3. A double fault and netted pass squandered her first two match points, but she nonetheless took a 5-2 lead in the tiebreak.

In fact, Mertens did not lead in the set until the very last minute. Two more match points for Keys went begging thanks to a wild backhand error and a missed return -- and at 8-8, Mertens found her finest baseline winner of the day, a backhand crosscourt on to the line, and followed it with an ace to force a decider.

Throughout Keys' breakthrough run in Melbourne, her fortitude in not allowing scoreboard setbacks to become turning points was crucial. She showed that again in the California desert, responding by leaping out to a 3-1 lead once again. Once again, Mertens levelled at 3-3, but Keys would not be denied. In the home stretch, she found some of her best shots of the day -- a pinpoint lob in the penultimate game, a cat-and-mouse exchange as she served it out. 

In the end, Keys' 49 winners would just about outnumber her 48 unforced errors. By contrast, Mertens' 32 unforced errors -- including the netted backhand facing her sixth match point -- ensured that she was unable to take advantage of Keys' fluctuating form.

"Definitely kind of frustrating out there today," Keys said in her on-court interview. "Lots of ups and downs. To be able to figure that out and get the win is all it takes sometimes -- it's just about surviving."