Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula posted wins Friday at the China Open to move on to the third round in Beijing.
Bpth defeated opponents from France. Gauff, the fourth seed, topped Clara Burel 7-5, 6-3, while the second-seeded Pegula rallied from a break down in the second set to defeat Diane Parry 6-1, 7-6 (4).
It was the first match for Pegula since the U.S. Open final, which she lost to Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus. She withdrew from the Korea Open last week due to a rib injury but has won 16 of her past 18 matches, losing only to Sabalenka both times.
Pegula hit 33 winners compared to 14 for Parry, who committed 24 unforced errors. The American won 77 percent of points on her first serve in the second set in her comeback.
“She’s super tricky,” Pegula said of Parry in her on-court interview. “I thought she started serving really well at the start of the second. She was holding her serve a lot better, and I had one bad service game. But honestly, I thought I still was playing really well. I think in the first set I played perfect. Second set, I knew maybe it would change as she started finding her rhythm a little bit. She’s super tricky with her slice and the way she plays. It’s a lot of patience, and you really have to think out there.”
Next up for Pegula will be No. 32 seed Veronika Kudermetova of Russia, who defeated Xinyu Wang of China 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in two hours, 42 minutes.
Gauff, with a revamped coaching staff by her side, needed 100 minutes to fend off the challenge from Burel. The 20-year-old won her 46th WTA 1000 hard-court event, tying her with Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark for the most by player before age 21.
In the next round, Gauff will meet No. 26 seed Katie Boulter of Great Britain, who beat American Taylor Townsend 6-4, 6-4.
Japan’s Naomi Osaka, a former World No. 1, came back from a set down to defeat No.21 seed Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. The 2019 champion in Beijing, Osaka had dropped 22 consecutive matches in which she lost the first set.
“I heard that stat from my agent and I wanted to break it really bad,” Osaka said. “… I also wanted to show myself that I could win a match and fight without playing as perfect as I wanted to.
Awaiting Osaka in the third round is American Katie Volynets.
Other winners Friday included Russians Diana Shnaider and Anna Kalinskaya, Spain’s Paula Badosa, Slovakian Rebecca Sramkova and Magdalena Frech of Poland.
–Field Level Media
