Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula Advance to Fourth Round at 2024 China Open Amid Rain Delays Victory
Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula shine at the 2024 China Open, both reaching the fourth round with impressive wins.
Rain caused little play on Sunday at the 2024 China Open, with only nine singles matches in the renowned combined ATP and WTA competition ending. American tennis players Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula made news by clinching their spots in the fourth round despite the weather disruptions.
Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula secured their first-ever spots in the China Open’s fourth round on Sunday at the WTA 1000 event with two very different victories.
For the first time in their three career meetings, No. 2 seed Pegula defeated No. 26 seed Veronika Kudermetova 6-7(9), 6-1, 6-2 to advance to the fourth round. Meanwhile, No. 4 seed Gauff defeated No. 26 seed Katie Boulter 7-5, 6-2 to make it to the round of 16 for the second consecutive year.
In both matches, players who had 5-2 first-set leads were subsequently unable to hold them, but they still won the sets. Before Kudermetova converted on her fifth set point in the tiebreak, Pegula had two set chances; nevertheless, the American broke twice in the second and third sets to win in two hours and forty-nine minutes. Neither in sets two nor three did she falter on her own.
After the game, Pegula remarked, “It’s always been really tough every time I’ve played her.” “I kind of understood what to do after I recovered from 2–5 in the first set; all I had to do was execute in the following two sets. I’m glad I was able to sort of work things out and support my head-to-head with her at last.”
At the combined ATP and WTA China Open on Sunday, just nine singles matches were finished because rain forced the postponement of outer court events.
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa, who ended recent Hua Hin champion Rebecca Sramkova’s nine-match winning streak, Zhang Shuai of China, who won her third match of the week after dropping her previous 24 matches against Greet Minnen, Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine, who qualified for the WTA 1000 main draw and advanced to the fourth round; and No. 23 seed Magdalena Frech, the recent Guadalajara champion, who defeated No. 12 seed Diana Shnaider to win a seventh straight match.
When the match was stopped, American Peyton Stearns was up 6-3, 2-3 against Anna Kalinskaya, the No. 10 seed.
In the men’s division, No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz defeated Tallon Griekspoor 6-1, 6-2 to record his 200th career win. No. 7 seed Karen Khachanov also advanced after defeating Francisco Cerundolo in two tiebreaks. Wild card Bu Yunchaokete, though, defeated Lorenzo Musetti, the sixth seed, 6-2, 6-4.
