Playing her first match since the US Open final, No.2 seed Jessica Pegula came from 3-1 down in the second set to defeat Diane Parry 6-1, 7-6(4) in the China Open second round.
Beijing: Scores | Order of Play | Draws
Pegula, who had withdrawn from Seoul last week due to a rib injury, notched her 16th win in her last 18 matches. The only player to have defeated her since the Paris Olympic Games is Aryna Sabalenka, who got the better of Pegula in both the Cincinnati and US Open finals.
Following a one-sided first set against Parry, whom she was facing for the first time, Pegula had to survive a nail-biting second set in which the Frenchwoman pushed her all the way. Ultimately, Pegula was able to reel off the last five points of the match from 4-2 down in the tiebreak.
The American will next face No.32 seed Veronika Kudermetova, who came through a three-set thriller to deny Chinese No.3 Wang Xinyu 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in 2 hours and 42 minutes. She has yet to defeat Kudermetova in two previous meetings, both in 2023 -- in the Madrid quarterfinals and Tokyo final.
By the numbers: Pegula dominated the stat sheet in every category, tallying 33 winners to 31 unforced errors overall. By contrast, Parry only struck 14 winners -- 11 of which came in the second set -- and committed 24 unforced errors. The World No.53 would frequently use her variety to construct patient points, only to go awry when trying to finish them off thanks to Pegula's anticipation and defense.
Pegula punished the Parry second serve relentlessly, teeing off a series of clean winners off the shot. Parry won just three points behind her second delivery in the first set, and six in the second. However, she was able to improve the efficacy of her first serve, winning 77% of the points behind it in the second set compared to 60% in the first.
In Pegula's words: "She's super tricky," Pegula said in her on-court interview. "I thought she started serving really well at the start of the second. She was holding her serve a lot better, and I had one bad service game. But honestly, I thought I still was playing really well. I think in the first set I played perfect. Second set, I knew maybe it would change as she started finding her rhythm a little bit. She's super tricky with her slice and the way she plays. It's a lot of patience, and you really have to think out there."
