Jessica Pegula has a couple of goals this week at the DC Open: trying to earn a third career singles title and building her game leading up to the final Grand Slam of the year.
She’s off to a strong start in each department.
The fourth-ranked women’s player in the world and
tournament’s top seed shook off a slow start, beating fellow American Peyton
Stearns 6-3, 6-4 Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the hard-court
tuneup for the U.S. Open. Pegula wrapped it up just before the rain started,
happy to fight through some windy conditions and get past a tough opponent.
“I definitely want to win the tournament: That’s why I’m
here,” Pegula said. “But at the same time, first tournament on hard (courts) in
a little while, so you definitely, I feel like, want to get your movement down,
your footing down. ... Working through and problem-solving those things builds
confidence, and ideally that’s what I want to keep building all the way up
until the Open.”
Pegula, 29, has never gotten further than the quarterfinals
in a Grand Slam. She’s coming off a quarterfinal loss at Wimbledon and an exit
in the round of 32 at the French Open.
Each of her two singles titles have come on hard court, and
this event is an opportunity for the Buffalo, New York, native to fine-tune
some things about her play with an eye toward a long run Flushing Meadows.
“I’m not trying to drastically change anything,” Pegula
said. “But I think just trying little things here and there, and that’s kind of
how you build confidence little by little. It’s just trying different things
and not being afraid to try them.”
Because she got a bye, the match against Stearns was
Pegula’s first of the tournament. She likes the rhythm of playing every day and
will be right back on the court Friday against Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, who’s
on a roll after reaching the Wimbledon semifinals and knocking off Victoria
Azarenka and Daria Kasatkina in this week.
“She’s been competing really, really well and playing very
fearless,” Pegula said. “It’s going to be a tough match. She’s been playing at
a high level.”
The big upset of the day came just before Pegula and Stearns
stepped onto stadium court. Sixth-ranked Caroline Garcia, the tournament’s
second seed, got knocked out in the round of 16 by Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-3.
Fans waved Ukraine’s blue and yellow flag in the stands
after Kostyuk broke Garcia to win the match. She joined Svitolina as women’s
players from the war-torn country to reach the quarterfinals in Washington,
with Kostyuk set to play Liudmila Samsonova from Russia on Friday for a spot in
the semis.
On the men’s side of the draw, fifth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov
advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Emil Ruusuvuori 6-4, 6-3, and J.J.
Wolf beat Michael Mmoh 6-4, 7-6 (5).
Rain washed out the night action, which was supposed to
feature Washington-area native Francis Tiafoe, followed by No. 1 seed Taylor
Fritz against three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray. -AP
0 comments:
Post a Comment