Wuhan Open: Pegula, Gauff advance to third round, Sabalenka survives early scare against Sramkova to advance

Wuhan: Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka overcame an early scare to beat unseeded Rebecca Sramkova 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 at the Wuhan Open on Wednesday.

The defending champion has had an amazing run in Wuhan — her record is 18-0 while winning titles in 2018, 2019 and 2024.

The U.S. Open champion Sabalenka broke her 68th-ranked opponent in the opening game of the final set and went on before converting her second match point to win in almost two hours.

“I knew that after that little break … it will be not that easy to get back in my rhythm,” Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. “I’m really gland the in the second set I found my game and stepped in and I think I played really great.”

Sabalenka started her rally by breaking her 68th-ranked opponent in fourth game of the second set and jumped to a 4-1 lead. She saved four break points in the seventh game.

She faces next No. 16 seed, Liudmila Samsonova, who rallied to beat 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Sramkova broke Sabalenka twice in the opening set.

Sabalenka, who took a Greek holiday after her second consecutive win at Flushing Meadows, withdrew from last week’s China Open, another WTA 1000-level event.

Jessica Pegula edged out fellow American Hailey Baptiste in a gripping three-set match, winning 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (6) in 2 hours and 55 minutes to reach the third round for the second year running.

Pegula and Baptiste met in their first clash in over three years. Pegula aimed for her third consecutive win against the 23-year-old Baptiste, who was seeking her first victory in the head-to-head series.

The match marked Pegula’s fifth consecutive three-setter. She will face No. 9 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, who defeated another American, Ann Li, in the second round.

“It’s been brutal. You know, I had match points, and then she started playing well. I think I just got a little tentative, and that’s all it takes sometimes for someone to come back. So, I mean, I’m really proud of myself for how I held it together, because I think I easily could’ve just collapsed. But I held tough, so yeah, that was a wild ride,” Pegula said after the match.

Elsewhere, Coco Gauff defeated Moyuka Uchijima, 6-1, 6-0 in just 51 minutes to advance to the third round for the second consecutive year.

It was a clinical showing from the World No. 3, who won 12 of 13 games and 55 of 77 points. But it was the American’s serve that stood out the most. Gauff missed just five first serves, finishing at 85 per cent for the match, and dropped only six points on serve. She recorded zero double faults and faced no break points, WTA reports.

“Today was a good match for me,” Gauff said in her on-court interview. “I played well, so yeah, I’m just super happy to be back here in Wuhan and moving on to the next round.”

She also kept her unforced errors to a minimum, tallying eight and winning 16 points. In the last three years, Gauff (18) has had the most wins on Chinese soil at the WTA level, one more than Zheng Qinwen (17). Agencies

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