(Adelaide) Second seed Jessica Pegula scored a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over fellow American Bernarda Pera on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals of the Adelaide tournament.
Pera had earned a spot in the main draw after a player withdrew, then surprised former world No. 2 Paula Badosa in the first round.
Pegula converted just one of her 10 break points in the first set, while the power of left-handed Pera gave her a tough time. Pegula, however, regained his composure in the second set, hitting 11 winners and committing only six unforced errors.
Pegula will now face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who defeated Katerina Siniakova 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Adelaide is one of the last preparatory tournaments ahead of the Australian Open, which gets underway on Sunday in Melbourne.
The favorite, Elena Rybakina, who was finalist last year at Melbourne Park and who won the tournament in Brisbane last Sunday, beat Cristina Bucsa 6-3, 7-5.
For his part, Tommy Paul, the favorite in the main draw in Adelaide, defeated Australian Alex Bolt 6-3, 6-2.
Jannik Sinner has chosen not to participate in the preparatory tournaments ahead of the Australian Open, preferring instead to participate in the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne. The eighth racket in the world, Holger Rune, and Andy Murray are also registered there.
In his first match of the season, Sinner defeated Marc Polmans 6-4, 6-0.
The 22-year-old Italian ended 2023 by defeating world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the preliminary round of the ATP Finals in Turin, and again a week later as he led his country to the Cup Davis in Malaga, Spain.
He also triumphed in Beijing and Vienna, tournaments during which he notably surprised the second world player Carlos Alcaraz and the third world racket Daniil Medvedev.
Sinner’s best result at the Australian Open came in 2022, when he reached the quarterfinals. Her best singles result at a Grand Slam tournament was a place in the semi-finals at Wimbledon last year.
Elise Mertens advanced to the quarter-finals of the Hobart tournament after eliminating Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2, 6-3.
Mertens is trying to secure a third career title in Hobart. The Belgian, who triumphed in Hobart in 2017 and 2018, will face the Dutch Arantxa Rus with a place in the final four at stake.
On the other hand, the Australian Daria Saville defeated at the end of the program the winner of the Australian Open in 2020, Sofia Kenin, in two sets of 7-6 (3), 6-1 to find herself in the quarter-finals .
