Pegula battles into Charleston Open quarter-finals

WASHINGTON: Defending champion and top seed Jessica Pegula moved into the quarter-finals of the WTA Charleston Open on Thursday after recovering to beat Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/1).

The American world number five had to come through another demanding contest, sealing victory in just over two hours a day after spending more than three hours on court in her win over Kazakhstan’s 72nd-ranked Yulia Putintseva.

The result also gave Pegula revenge for her defeat to Cocciaretto at Wimbledon last year. Cocciaretto, ranked 43rd in the world, controlled the opening set as Pegula struggled badly on serve. The American won only 25 percent of points on her first serve in the first set.

I don't know what I was doing out there... Oh my gosh, that's horrible,

Pegula said after the match.

After dropping the first set heavily, Pegula responded strongly in the second to level the contest. But the deciding set proved equally difficult. She was broken straight away and fell behind 1-4 before fighting back to make it 4-4.

Pegula then missed a break point chance to move ahead when she found the net. Trailing 4-5 and standing two points from defeat, she recovered again to level at 5-5 and force a deciding tiebreak.

In the tiebreak, Pegula took the early advantage by winning the opening point on Cocciaretto’s serve. She then won every point on her own serve, before Cocciaretto double-faulted to end the match.

She beat me the last time we played, so there was a bit of a mental thing too, but I was able to serve really well, I think, at the end,

And then I just held my nerve.

Pegula, who won the title in Dubai in February, will next play Russia’s Diana Shnaider in the last eight. Shnaider booked her place in the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Canada’s Leylah Fernandez.

Elsewhere, Swiss third seed Belinda Bencic also advanced after overcoming a slow start to defeat Czech player Sara Bejlek 7-6 (7/4), 6-2. Bencic will face fifth-seeded American Madison Keys in the quarter-finals.

Keys secured her place in the last eight with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Hungary’s Anna Bondar.

Quarter-final line-up takes shape

Pegula’s progress means the defending champion remains on course to retain her Charleston title despite back-to-back testing matches. With Shnaider, Bencic and Keys also advancing, the tournament’s quarter-final line-up continued to take shape on Thursday.