Top seed Jessica Pegula misplaced 10 straight video games and trailed 4-0 within the last set earlier than rallying to succeed in the quarter-finals of the WTA’s Charleston Open.
Pegula, ranked No.3 on the planet, led the highest 4 seeds together with No.4 seed and defending champion Belinda Bencic, into the last-eight within the season’s first clay-court event.
No match was the equal of Pegula’s battle with Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu, who was down 4-0 within the second set and two video games away from a fast exit till discovering her recreation to win 7-5 4-6 6-4.
Begu, the fifteenth seed, strung collectively a 10-game streak to show issues round earlier than Pegula dug in to win the ultimate six video games and with them an exhausting tie.
“That was a pretty crazy match,” Pegula stated.
“What was going through my mind is, ‘I can’t believe I’ve lost six games in a row, seven games in a row, eight, nine, 10,'” she stated.
“I can’t remember the last time I’ve been up like that and consecutively lost that many games as well.
“I used to be simply pissed off, however was capable of loosen up and performed a fairly good recreation (down 4-0 within the third).”
The US player will hope for more consistency against 12th seed Paula Badosa, a 6-1 6-3 winner over Diana Shnaider, for a spot in Saturday’s semi-finals.
Others moving on included No.2 seed Ons Jabeur, Daria Kasatkina – seeded three – and Bencic, who beat Jabeur to win last year’s event on Charleston’s green clay.
Jabeur overcame Caroline Dolehide 6-3 7-5, Kasatkina beat Bernarda Pera 6-3 7-6 (7-3), and Bencic bounced back after losing the opening set to oust Shelby Rogers 4-6 7-5 6-2.
Next for Jabeur will be Anna Kalinskaya, who beat two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka 6-4 7-6 (7-5).
Jabeur, who reached the finals at Wimbledon and the US Open a season ago, likes where her game is at in the run up to Roland Garros next month.
“I’m getting used to the clay extra,” she said. “The most essential factor (is) I’m having fun with myself on the courtroom and hopefully, it would proceed to be higher and higher.”
Kasatkina will take on either Magda Linette or 2019 Charleston winner Madison Keys on Friday.
Bencic will face Ekaterina Alexandrova, who defeated Julia Grabher 6-4 6-2.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
