Pegula and Gauff Advance in the Wuhan Open; Osaka Surprised
In a day full of emotions at the Wuhan Open, Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff secured their place in the next round, while Naomi Osaka suffered an unexpected defeat. Pegula, seeded number 6, defeated her compatriot Hailey Baptiste in a tight tiebreak, with a final score of 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (6). Pegula needed seven match points to seal her victory and advance to the third round. Her next rival will be Ekaterina Alexandrova, ninth seed, who defeated Ann Li with a score of 7-6 (5), 6-2. Coco Gauff, the tournament’s number 3, had a dominant performance, defeating Moyuka Uchijima with a resounding 6-1, 6-0 in just 51 minutes. The surprise of the day was delivered by Linda Noskova, who eliminated Naomi Osaka with a score of 7-6 (2), 6-3. The young Czech tennis player, 20 years old, will face Jaqueline Cristian or Elena Rybakina in the next round. Liudmila Samsonova came back to defeat Sofia Kenin with a score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. In the third round, Samsonova will face Aryna Sabalenka, the current US Open champion. Sabalenka, with an impressive 18-0 record at the Wuhan tournament, defeated Rebecca Sramkova with scores of 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. The world number one is looking to add a new title to her successful career in China.Karolina Muchova was forced to retire from her match against Magdalena Frech due to the heat and humidity, when she was losing 7-6 (1), 4-1.“I knew that after that little break… it wouldn’t be easy to get back into my rhythm. I’m very happy that in the second set I found my game and stepped up, and I think I played very well. I’m very happy to be back. I’ve won many tournaments in China. It feels like home in this stadium, and I really hope I can go all the way,” Sabalenka commented.
Aryna Sabalenka
