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
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
In an unlikely Ethiopian outpost of one the most French of pastimes, four men are leaning over their petanque balls, arguing over who is winning. Petanque, the bowling game also known as boules, is more readily associated with French village squares where locals launch metal balls at a jack while enjoying an afternoon drink, but for decades, it has also been a beloved pastime for members of a club near the iconic Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It was founded in the early 20th century to cater to French railway workers, who built a line connecting Addis Ababa
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
BEAT THE HEAT: A brutal heat wave in the US has made cooling breaks standard. Dortmund’s coach said the weather could shape the destiny of the tournament Chelsea on Tuesday beat Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 to set up a FIFA Club World Cup last-16 tie against SL Benfica, who earlier defeated Bayern Munich 1-0, as furnace-link heat and the threat of thunder and lightning wreak havoc at the tournament. Elsewhere, minnows Auckland City claimed a memorable draw against Boca Juniors, while Los Angeles bowed out of the tournament with a stalemate against Flamengo. In Charlotte, Andreas Schjelderup scored the only goal for Benfica in their Group C clash with Bayern in front of 33,287 fans, finishing first-time from a cutback by his fellow Norwegian Fredrik Aursnes in the 13th
RSS