Pegula, Alcaraz advance at China Open

BEIJING — Jessica Pegula expected a tough match, and the second-seeded American got one in defeating Veronika Kudermetova 6-7 (9), 6-1, 6-2 in the third round of the China Open in Beijing.

No. 4-seeded Coco Gauff turned back Great Britain’s Katie Boulter 7-5, 6-2 to reach the round of 16 at the China Open.

Carlos Alcaraz defeated Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-2 at the China Open to capture his 200th career tour victory.

It was Pegula’s first career win in three attempts against Kudermetova, the 32nd seed, who beat the American in the Tokyo final in 2023.

“Every time I’ve played her, it’s always been really tough,” said Pegula, ranked No. 3 in the world.

“After I came back from 2-5 in the first set, I kind of knew what to do. I just had to execute in the next couple sets,” Pegula added according to Reuters.

“I’m happy I was able to kind of figure that out and finally help my head-to-head against her.”

Pegula won 70 per cent (42 of 60) of her first-serve points, converted seven of nine break points and saved four of seven break-point opportunities in winning the match in two hours, 39 minutes.

Pegula has won 38 of 50 matches this year, the most victories in her first 50 matches in one season. Her career best was 37-13 in 2023.

She has won 17 of her past 19 matches, all on hard courts, with the only losses coming against Aryna Sabalenka.

Fourth-seeded Gauff solved Boulter after some early difficulty, as the American won 7-5, 6-2 to advance to the fourth round.

The 2023 US Open champion Gauff  wasted a 5-2 lead in the first set before responding by breaking the 26th-seeded Boulter on her third set point in the 12th game. The World No. 6, Gauff won eight of the last 10 games.

“I felt like I gave up two points in that game, so I was just trying to put it in the past,” Gauff said of the 12th game.

“Breaking for the set, I think is just one of those things where you don’t have the pressure, I think serving for it you do, so I just tried to play each point.”

“I thought I played well,” she continued. “I knew what I needed to do, so I tried my best to make the adjustments.”

Poland’s Magdalena Frech, the 23rd seed, rallied after getting shut out in the first set for a 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 upset of Russia’s Diana Shnaider, the 12th seed.

China’s Shuai Zhang converted six of eight break points in defeating Belgium’s Greet Minnen 6-2, 6-3, in 75 minutes.

Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva won 72.2 per cent (26 of 36) of her first-serve points in eliminating Armenia’s Elina Avanesyan 6-3, 6-1.

Winning is something that Carlos Alcaraz has become accustomed to on the ATP Tour. It is now second nature for the 21-year-old, who has just surpassed another milestone.

The second seed’s comprehensive 6-1, 6-2 triumph over Tallon Griekspoor in the second round of the China Open constituted a 200th tour-level win for Alcaraz, who became the third player born in the 2000s to achieve this feat, joining Jannik Sinner and Felix Auger-Aliassime.

“I’m really happy about it – 200 wins is a great number,” Alcaraz said of his latest achievement.

“But I am already looking for the third hundred. I just want to keep going, to keep rolling. I am looking forward to playing matches and to keep doing the things that I am doing,” Alcaraz added according to atptour.com.

Despite the one-sided score in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, which is now 4-0 in favour of the Spaniard, the quality of shotmaking was palpable.

It was lights out tennis from the off, and it wasn’t long before the No. 3 in the ATP Rankings took a stranglehold on the match.

Alcaraz won 100 per cent of first-serve points (23/23), according to Infosys ATP Stats, during the 57 minute encounter. The Dutchman came unstuck thanks to the craft and guile deployed by his younger opponent.

The Spaniard, who has 15 tour-level titles to his name, will face seventh seed Karen Khachanov in the quarter-finals in Beijing with the hopes of extending his 3-0 lead in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

Alcaraz fell short at the semi-final stage in last year’s tournament, but will be eager to keep up with Sinner in the battle to finish as ATP Year-End No. 1. The Italian is currently in pole position in the ATP Live Race To Turin, 2,990 points clear of third-placed Alcaraz.