Jessica Pegula stays on monitor on the Nationwide Financial institution Open.
Final 12 months’s winner defeated American qualifier Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-4 on Friday to advance to the quarterfinals on the Canadian tennis championship.
Pegula, a 30-year-old from Buffalo, N.Y., was the beneficiary of 9 double faults in a match the place each gamers struggled with the situations inside a windy Sobeys Stadium.
The No. 3 seed topped Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova in final 12 months’s Montreal remaining after additionally making the semis in each 2021 and 2022.
The 20-year-old Krueger upset No. 15 seed Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., on Thursday to eradicate the final remaining Canadian singles participant within the draw — each in Toronto and on the males’s occasion in Montreal.
In different early matches, Taylor Townsend of the U.S. upset No. 4 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2, 6-1 and No. 8 Emma Navarro of the U.S. beat No. 11 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 7-5, 7-5.
Amanda Anisimova of the U.S. additionally superior after No. 10 Anna Kalinskaya of Russia retired due to dizziness following the primary set.
Peyton Stearns grew to become the fifth American in a quarterfinal contingent dominated by purple, white and blue when No. 12 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus retired with an obvious leg harm within the second set.
Krueger’s serve gave Fernandez suits Thursday, however she fired simply two aces in opposition to Pegula lower than 24 hours later.
Krueger double-faulted up 4-3 within the second set to present Pegula a break earlier than sending her return vast within the subsequent recreation for a 5-4 deficit.
Pegula, who gained doubles in Toronto with Coco Gauff two years in the past, then clinched the match on a shot that clipped the web earlier than she raised a hand in acknowledgment and hugged her compatriot.
The five-time winner on the WTA Tour improved to 3-0 in opposition to Krueger after additionally topping the Dallas native 6-0, 6-2 at Wimbledon final month. She downed Czechia’s Karolina Pliskova in straight units to open her NBO title defence Wednesday.
Coming off a second-round exhibiting on the Paris Olympics, Pegula improved to 14-2 all-time at Canada’s title occasion.
Townsend’s unlikely run continued after she made the ladies’s bracket as an harm substitute earlier than No. 16 seed Dayana Yastremska retired within the second set of their match Tuesday.
The 71st-ranked American then steamrolled Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., by a depend of 6-0, 6-2 on Thursday.
Gauff, the American-born high seed in 2024, was scheduled to tackle No. 14 Diana Shnaider of Russia in Friday’s night session, whereas No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus met Nice Britain’s Katie Boulter.
Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and companion Erin Routliffe of New Zealand have been slated to hit the doubles court docket for his or her first motion in Toronto this 12 months later Friday.
Dabrowski is coming off an Olympic bronze alongside Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime to finish Canada’s 24-year medal drought in tennis on the Video games.
