The second-seeded and world’s number three Jessica Pegula (USA) defeated Veronika Kudermetova (Russia) in three sets by 2-1 (6:7, 6:1, 6:2) in the third round of the WTA 1000 China Open tennis tournament in Beijing with a prize pool of almost 9 million USD.
Jessica Pegula lost a marathon first set on a tiebreak, but then adjusted her play and turned the match over with no problems.
The American tennis player has won 17 of her last 19 matches, including defending her title in Toronto and reaching the finals in Cincinnati and the US Open, where her only defeats came against Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus).
In the fourth round, Jessica Pegula will face 15th-seeded Paula Badosa (Spain), who prevailed over Rebecca Sramkova (Slovakia) by 2-0 (7:5, 7:5).
Magdalena Frech (Poland) overcame a disastrous start to win in three sets against 12th-seeded Diana Shnaider (Russia) by 2-1 (0:6, 6:3, 6:4). The next opponent of the Polish tennis player will be the world’s 595th Zhang Shuai (China), who defeated Greet Minnen (Belgium) by 2-0 (6:2, 6:3).
In the late match of the day, Cori Coco Gauff (USA) defeated Katie Boulter (Great Britain) by 2-0 (7:5, 6:2).
