(Beijing) American Jessica Pegula recovered after losing a long first set and won 6-7 (9), 6-1, 6-2 at the expense of Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday in the third round of the China Open.
The second seed won 17 of his 19 matches, including defending his title in Canada and reaching the final in Cincinnati and the U.S. Open.
Pegula made three breaks of serve in the first set, but she also lost three of her own. Kudermetova then prevailed in a grueling 20-point tiebreaker.
This tiebreaker setback seemed to revive Pegula, who found her composure from the back of the court to break the Russian’s serve twice in the next two sets.
The American won the match in just over two and a half hours. It was Pegula’s first victory over Kudermetova in three attempts.
Pegula will now face Spaniard Paola Badosa (No. 15) in the fourth round, after the latter defeated Serbian Rebecca Sramkova 7-5, 7-5.
Poland’s Magdalena Frech (No. 23) overcame a disastrous start to the match to win in three sets of 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 against Diana Shnaider (No. 12). She will next face Zhang Shuai, who eliminated Belgian Greet Minnen 6-2, 6-3.
The American Coco Gauff faced the British Katie Boulter later on Sunday, while the Japanese Naomi Osaka crossed swords with Katie Volynets.
On the men’s side of the draw, local favorite Bu Yunchaokete surprised Italian Lorenzo Musetti, the bronze medalist at the Paris Games, in two short sets of 6-2, 6-4. This was Bu’s first victory against a player from top 20.
Ranked 96e in the world, Bu will now have an appointment with Andrey Rublev (no. 4) or Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
Karen Khachanov (No. 7) had 15 fewer winners and four more unforced errors than Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo, but he found a way to win 7-6 (4), 7-6 (9) to advance to the quarter-finals.
Khachanov will then battle Carlos Alcaraz or Tallon Greikspoor, who will play their match later on Sunday.
Alcaraz must at least reach the semi-finals this week to overtake Alexander Zverev and take second place in the ATP rankings. Zverev is not playing in Beijing as he is recovering from an illness.
Japan Open
Czech Tomas Machac was the first man to advance to the semi-finals in Tokyo, after posting a 7-6 (2), 6-3 victory over American qualifier Alex Michelsen.
Machac had eight aces and broke Michelsen’s serve twice to triumph in 95 minutes.
Machac will face Ugo Humbert in the semi-finals, after the Frenchman won by forfeit against the British Jack Draper.
Humbert was leading 7-5, 2-1 against Draper when the U.S. Open semifinalist abandoned the match because he was unable to continue.
In the other quarter-finals on Sunday, local favorite Kei Nishikori played against Dane Holger Rune (No. 6). The reigning tournament champion, American Ben Shelton, faced Frenchman Arthur Fils, who beat top seed Taylor Fitz in the first round.