Pegula reach quarter finals in Cincinnati after double victory

Jessica Pegula proved too strong for her opponents as she went on to win two matches in one day and advance to the last eight at the Cincinnati Open on Friday.

The 30-year-old American and last week’s champion, began the day with a tough opener against last year’s finalist Karolina Muchova. The World No.6 came from a set down to win 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. Then, after a few hours rest, she returned to court to beat Taylor Townsend 6-2, 6-3 to secure her spot in the final eight.

Pegula has now won her last seven matches and shed any concerns around what she felt, even a month ago, was a sub-par season.

“It’s kind of funny, I keep saying it looks like a bad year,” Pegula said before the tournament, “but I’ve won a 500 and a 1000.

“I think I know that the level is still there, obviously. I just need to stay healthy and try and do my best for the rest of the year. But yeah, it’s turned around a little bit.”

By winning Toronto, Pegula became the first player to successfully defend the Canadian Open since Martina Hingis 24 years ago. In Cincinnati, she has the chance to pull off one of the most rare doubles in the sport. The last woman to win titles in Canada and Cincinnati in back-to-back tournaments was Evonne Goolagong over 50 years ago, in 1973.

“Toronto was definitely a tough week mentally,” Pegula said. “Being able to come back and just focus on competing, I think in a way it almost helped me because I didn’t have time to think about how I was really feeling.

“It’s not like I had this massive prep and I was going into this week expecting to do well. It was kind of like, okay, let’s just see where we are. Let’s try to get the movement back. Let’s try to get the feeling back on hard courts with the balls and stuff like that.”

Pegula will face 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez in the quarterfinals on Saturday. Fernandez followed up her match-point-saving win over No.4 Elena Rybakina in the second round to oust red-hot Diana Shnaider 6-1, 6-4. The victory put the 21-year-old Canadian into her second WTA 1000 quarterfinal of the year.