Jessica Pegula came back from one set down to beat Emma Raducanu 3-6 7-6 (11-9) 6-0 in 2 hours and 21 minutes reaching the fourth round of the China Open in Beijing. Pegula saved three match points in the tie-break of the second set.
Raducanu earned her first break in the second game to open up a 3-0 lead. Pegula broke back in the seventh game, but Raducanu broke for the second time to win the first set 6-3.
Raducanu went up a set and a break in the third game of the second set, but Pegula broke straight back to draw level to 2-2 and forced the set to the tie-break. Raducanu went up a 5-2 lead in the tie-break, but Pegula saved three match points before converting her second set point to send the match to a third set.
Pegula earned three breaks of serve to take a bagel win. Raducanu won just 12 points during the third set.
Raducanu lost from three match points up for the second time in as many weeks in a second set tie-break. The British player squandered a 5-2 lead in the second set to lose to Barbora Krejcikova 4-6 7-6 (12-10) 6-1.
Pegula will take on Marta Kostyuk, who beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-4 6-2. Pegula leads 3-1 in her four head-to-head matches against Kostyuk, including a 6-2 6-3 win in Miami last March.
“It was a crazy match, That was really intense. I got myself back into the tie-break and just wanted to keep the pressure on. To be honest, I think I got a little bit lucky on two of those where I hit those two backhand winners but, other than that I just tried to keep fighting for as long as I could”, said Pegula.
