No. 1 seed Jessica Pegula of the United States rolled into the ATX Open quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-3 dismissal of Spain's Nuria Parrizas Diaz on Wednesday.
World No. 4 Pegula clinched a spot in her third quarterfinal of the season after besting 107th-ranked Parrizas Diaz in 1 hour and 5 minutes of play in the Texan capital of Austin. With the victory, Pegula also picked up her 10th match-win of 2025.
"I’m glad I just got off to a really good start," Pegula said on court following her win. "I thought I started the second set well, got the early break and just kind of stayed in some of those long games on the return, and took care of my serve really well today."
Pegula, who reached her first Grand Slam singles final at last year's US Open, could become the first American to reach the Austin final if she lives up to her top seeding. Two Americans, Danielle Collins and Katie Volynets, fell in the semifinals of the inaugural edition two years ago.
On Wednesday, Pegula had it all her own way in the first set. Parrizas Diaz pushed Pegula to a first-set tiebreak in their previous meeting, at the 2022 Australian Open, but this time around, the American clinched the one-set lead after just 21 minutes.
A pair of ill-timed double faults by Parrizas Diaz gave Pegula a 2-1 lead in the second set as well. Pegula eased home from there without facing a break point in the entire match, thanks to a 90 percent winning rate when she got her first serve into play.
Pegula will now meet Anna Blinkova in the elite eight. World No. 74 Blinkova preceded Pegula on Center Court with an easy win of her own, cruising past Tatjana Maria 6-2, 6-2 in 1 hour and 7 minutes and reaching her second quarterfinal of 2025.
Pegula leads Blinkova 3-1 in their head-to-head. However, Blinkova did get her first win over the American in their most recent meeting, at Indian Wells last year.