Pegula advances at Wuhan Open

WUHAN, China (AP) — Jessica Pegula recovered an early service break in the third set Thursday to beat Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 and advance to the quarterfinals at the Wuhan Open.

Pegula, who lost in the China Open semifinals last week, leveled the deciding set at 2-2, then won four of the last five games for victory.

The win over No. 9 Alexandrova came a day after Pegula needed seven match points to beat fellow American Hailey Baptiste in the second round.

U.S. Open champion Aryna Sabalenka was scheduled to play Liudmila Samsonova later Thursday on the main court. No. 16 Samsonova is coming off a win over 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin.

Top-ranked Sabalenka, a three-time Wuhan Open champion, is on an 18-match winning streak at the tournament. She won Wuhan titles in 2018, 2019 and 2024.

In night matches, No. 2 Iga Swiatek was scheduled to play Belinda Bencic and No. 3 Coco Gauff, coming off a semifinal loss to eventual champion Amanda Anisimova at the China Open last week, was due to face Zhang Shuai.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis