World No. 5 Jessica Pegula yesterday rallied from a slow start to overcome 69th-ranked Bernarda Pera and set up a quarter-final against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the Adelaide International.
The second seed needed two-and-a-quarter hours to win the all-American battle 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 at Memorial Drive.
After splitting the first two sets, Pegula started the deciding set with a break, but lost it in the sixth game before breaking again for a 4-3 lead.
Photo: AFP
She dug deep to get through a seven-minute penultimate game, saving four break points for 5-3 then wrapping up the win.
“She was hitting well in the first set, there was not a lot more I could do,” Pegula said. “I stayed relaxed and tried not to get frustrated. I want to keep improving and have a good mindset. It’s a brand new year and I want to find my confidence for the Australian Open.”
She will next meet 2021 French Open finalist Pavlyuchenkova, who defeated Katerina Siniakova 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Laura Siegemund, part of Germany’s United Cup winning team, advanced past Romanian Ana Bogdan 6-4, 7-5 with either Anna Kalinskaya or Daria Kasatkina awaiting her in the last eight.
In men’s action, Chilean second seed Nicolas Jarry needed three-and-a-half hours to topple Italian Matteo Arnaldi 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (9/7), 6-4, saving a match point in the second-set tiebreak.
Briton Jack Draper came through the day’s second marathon, battling for 3 hours, 39 minutes before finally advancing against Serb Miomir Kecmanovic 5-7, 7-6 (11/9), 7-6 (9/7).
In contrast, Australian Christopher O’Connell needed just 60 minutes to beat Russia’s Alexander Shevchenko 6-3, 6-1.
Meanwhile, defending champion Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek are to be the top seeds at the Australian Open in the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, which begins on Sunday at Melbourne Park.
The men’s seedings mirror the ATP rankings as of yesterday from Nos. 1 to 32, with 24-time major winner Djokovic followed by Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz, the only player to beat him a Grand Slam event last year.
The women’s seedings followed the WTA rankings from Nos. 1 to 8.
Additional reporting by AP
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