Top-seeded Jessica Pegula overcame a slow start and produced a 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 win over Poland’s Magdalena Frech on Thursday in the second round of the Mubadala DC Open in Washington.
Pegula came through in the match’s key moments, converting five break opportunities and saving 5 of 7 break points on her own serve.
The 2019 Washington champion (and winner of the unofficial 2021 Washington event amid the pandemic), Pegula will oppose fifth-seeded Anna Kalinskaya of Russia in the quarterfinals.
Kalinskaya rallied past Indonesia’s Janice Tjen 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7) in the second round. Tjen had a match point with Kalinskaya serving at 4-5 in the third set, then another at 6-5 in the tiebreaker, but she didn’t take advantage of either.
In other second-round matches, fourth-seeded Diana Shnaider of Russia thrashed Austria’s Anastasia Potapova 6-1, 6-2, while second-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine opposed Uzbekistan’s Polina Kudermetova in the last action of the night.
The Memphis Classic
Two seeded U.S. players cruised into the quarterfinals in Tennessee behind dominant second-round efforts.
Sixth-seeded Caty McNally downed China’s Ye-Xin Ma 6-2, 6-3, and seventh-seeded Peyton Stearns routed Russia’s Tatiana Prozorova 6-1, 6-2.
McNally didn’t serve an ace, but she won 68.8% of her first-serve points compared to Ma’s 39.4% success rate on first-serve points. Stearns dominated the same stat, winding up at 64.3% to Prozorova’s 44.2%.
Also moving into the quarterfinals were the Czech Republic’s Darja Vidmanova, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Sloane Stephens, and Russia’s Kristina Liutova, who defeated Australia’s Maya Joint 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
–Field Level Media
