Jessica Pegula expected a tough match, and the second-seeded American got one in defeating Veronika Kudermetova 6-7 (9), 6-1, 6-2 in the third round of the China Open in Beijing on Sunday.
It was Pegula’s first career win in three attempts against Kudermetova, the 32nd seed, who beat the American in the Tokyo final in 2023.
“Every time I’ve played her, it’s always been really tough,” said Pegula, ranked No. 3 in the world. “After I came back from 2-5 in the first set, I kind of knew what to do. I just had to execute in the next couple sets. I’m happy I was able to kind of figure that out and finally help my head-to-head against her.”
Pegula won 70 percent (42 of 60) of her first-serve points, converted seven of nine break points and saved four of seven break-point opportunities in winning the match in two hours, 39 minutes.
Pegula has won 38 of 50 matches this year, the most victories in her first 50 matches in one season. Her career best was 37-13 in 2023.
She has won 17 of her past 19 matches, all on hard courts, with the only losses coming against Aryna Sabalenka.
Fourth-seeded Coco Gauff solved Great Britain’s Katie Boulter after some early difficulty, as the American won 7-5, 6-2 to advance to the fourth round.
Gauff wasted a 5-2 lead in the first set before responding by breaking the 26th-seeded Boulter on her third set point in the 12th game. The World No. 6, Gauff won eight of the last 10 games.
“I felt like I gave up two points in that game, so I was just trying to put it in the past,” Gauff said of the 12th game. “Breaking for the set, I think is just one of those things where you don’t have the pressure, I think serving for it you do, so I just tried to play each point.”
“I thought I played well,” she continued. “I knew what I needed to do, so I tried my best to make the adjustments.”
Gauff had five aces.
Poland’s Magdalena Frech, the 23rd seed, rallied after getting shut out in the first set for an 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 upset of Russia’s Diana Shnaider, the 12th seed.
China’s Shuai Zhang converted six of eight break points in defeating Belgium’s Greet Minnen 6-2, 6-3, in 75 minutes.
Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva won 72.2 percent (26 of 36) of her first-serve points in eliminating Armenia’s Elina Avanesyan 6-3, 6-1.
Sunday’s other matches at the outside courts were postponed by rain until Monday.
–Field Level Media
