BEIJING (AP) — Third-ranked Jessica Pegula responded to losing a marathon first set to rally for a 6-7 (9), 6-1, 6-2 win over Veronika Kudermetova in the third round of the China Open on Sunday.
Pegula has won 17 of her last 19 matches, including defending her title in Toronto and making finals at Cincinnati and the U.S. Open, where her only defeats have come to Aryna Sabalenka, the top-seeded player in Beijing.
The American made three service breaks in the first set, but also lost three of her own, with Kudermetova prevailing in a lung-busting 20 point tiebreaker to take the lead.
The loss of the tiebreaker seemed to spur Pegula to life as she found her groundstroke range to break her Russian opponent’s serve twice in each set to take the match in just over two-and-a-half hours. It was Pegula’s first win against the 39th-ranked Kudermetova in three attempts.
Pegula will play the 15th-seeded Paola Badosa in the fourth round after the Spaniard beat Serbian Rebecca Sramkova 7-5, 7-5.
Poland’s Magdalena Frech, seeded 23rd, overcame a disastrous start to rally to a three-set win over 12th-seeded Diana Shnaider 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 and next faces the 595th-ranked wildcard Zhang Shuai, who beat Greet Minnen of Belgium 6-2, 6-3.
The No. 6-ranked Coco Gauff played Katie Boulter of Britain and four-time major winner Naomi Osaka faced Katie Volynets later Sunday.
In the men’s draw, local favorite Bu Yunchaokete upset Paris Olympics bronze medalist Lorenzo Musetti 6-2, 6-4 for the 22-year-old’s first victory against a top 20-player.
The No.96-ranked Bu will next play either fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev or Alejando Davidovich Fokina.
Seveth-seeded Karen Khacharov made 15 fewer winners and four more unforced errors than Argentine Francisco Cerundolo, but found a way to win the big points in a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (9) victory to take him through to the quarterfinals.
He next faces either third-ranked Carlos Alcaraz or Tallon Greikspoor, who played in a night match later Sunday.
Alcaraz needs to make at least the semifinals this week to rise above Alexander Zverev to No. 2 in the rankings. Zverev is not playing in Beijing as he recovers from an illness.
Japan Open
Tomas Machac was the first man through to the semifinals in Tokyo with a 7-6 (2), 6-3 victory over American qualifier Alex Michelsen.
The No.34-ranked Machac had eight aces and broke Michelsen’s serve twice as he advanced in 95 minutes.
Machac will play Ugo Humbert in the semifinals after the Frenchman won by walkover against Jack Draper of Britain.
Humbert was leading Draper 7-5, 2-1 when the U.S. Open semifinalist retired from the match because he was unable to continue.
In other quarterfinal matches Sunday, home favorite Kei Nishikori played sixth-seeded Holger Rune of Denmark, and defending champion Ben Shelton faced Arthur Fils of France, who defeated top-seeded Taylor Fitz in the opening round.
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AP tennis:
