Jessica Pegula yesterday dropped just five games to romp past Maria Sakkari at the Adelaide International in a delayed start to her season days before the Australian Open, while in Hobart, Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien advanced in the women’s doubles.
The top seed and US Open finalist, who had a bye in the first round, overwhelmed the Greek former world No. 3 6-4, 6-1.
The world No. 7 faces fellow American Ashlyn Krueger in the quarter-finals after Krueger beat Spain’s Paula Badosa 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (4/7), 6-2.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Pegula, who last played at the WTA Finals in November, improved her record against Sakkari to 6-5 as the Greek player works her way back from a shoulder injury.
“It’s always tough getting the first win of the year, you don’t know what to expect, but it’s good heading into Melbourne next week” Pegula said. “My focus is on doing well here first. It’s fun to problem-solve on court and have a good attitude to start the year.”
Second seed Emma Navarro of the US, ranked eight in the world, came through a tougher assignment, needing two hours to battle past Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.
She faces Liudmila Samsonova after the Russian defeated Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-4.
In the men’s singles, Canadian fifth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime staged a fightback to defeat France’s Arthur Cazaux 1-6, 6-4, 7-5, while American Marcos Giron beat Canada’s Denis Shapovalov in straight sets.
Other winners in the men’s singles were: Miomir Kecmanovic, Rinky Hijikata, Benjamin Bonzi, Sebastian Korda and Tommy Paul.
Elsewhere in Australia, Wu won in the women’s doubles at the Hobart International.
Wu and Chinese partner Jiang Xinyu beat Ingrid Gamarra Martins of Brazil and Britain’s Emily Appleton 6-4, 6-2 in the round-of-16 at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court event.
The win set up a quarter-final today against Australian pair Talia Gibson and Maya Joint.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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