Jessica Pegula and fellow American Hailey Baptiste met for the third time Wednesday at the Dongfeng · Voyah Wuhan Open, their first matchup in more than three years.
Wuhan: Scores | Draws | Order of play
Pegula entered seeking her third win in as many meetings with the 23-year-old Baptiste, who was aiming to break through for her first victory in the head-to-head series.
And while it took nearly three hours and seven match points, experience ultimately prevailed. The No. 6 seed held off Baptiste in a gripping three-set battle, winning 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (6) in 2 hours and 55 minutes to reach the third round in Wuhan for the second consecutive year.
Next up for Pegula is No. 9 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, who defeated another American, Ann Li, in the second round.
“I don’t really know what to say about that match,” Pegula said afterward. “It’s been brutal. You know, I had match points, and then she started playing well. I think I just got a little tentative, and that’s all it takes sometimes for someone to come back. So, I mean, I’m really proud of myself for how I held it together, because I think I easily could’ve just collapsed. But I held tough, so yeah, that was a wild ride.”
Considering how it ended, it makes the beginning of the match felt almost surreal.
Pegula came out firing in her first match since her heartbreaking semifinal loss to Linda Noskova in Beijing last week, looking sharp and focused on the road ahead.
She broke Baptiste in the opening game, jumping to a 0-40 lead before converting. Pegula then consolidated the break with a gritty hold, saving three break points and surviving four deuces to go up 2-0.
After extending her lead to 4-1, Baptiste clawed back by winning two straight games. But Pegula responded with a love hold to close out the first set in 50 minutes.
Momentum shifted in the second set, as Baptiste broke Pegula twice on her way to leads of 3-0 and 5-2. Though Pegula broke back to narrow the gap to 5-4 — prompting visible frustration from Baptiste — the younger American regrouped and converted her second set point after fending off five game points, sealing the set in 52 minutes.
With the heat rule coming into effect for the second straight day in Wuhan, both players declined the option of a 10-minute break between the second and third sets and chose to play on.
Pegula dominated for much of the decider, racing out to a 5-2 lead. Despite the wear and tear of recent matches — many of the three-set variety — she looked determined to rebound from a mistake-laden finish to the second set.
But the finish was anything but routine. Pegula squandered five match points as Baptiste mounted a last-ditch rally, leveling the set at 5-all. Pegula then earned a break point to regain control but couldn’t convert, allowing Baptiste to surge ahead 6-5, suddenly a game away from victory.
In the end, Pegula held her nerve. She held serve convincingly to force a third-set tiebreak, then after dropping another match point, converted her seventh match point to secure the win after a 74-minute third set.
It was the ultimate definition of survive and advance.
The match marked Pegula’s fifth consecutive three-setter, and yet none — not even the Noskova loss — matched the drama of this one.
She summed it up with a single word, delivered straight to the camera lens:
“Wow.”
Gauff wastes no time in rout of Uchijima
Coco Gauff delivered a “wow” performance of her own Wednesday in Wuhan, albeit in much different fashion than Pegula’s preceding marathon on Center Court.
Gauff defeated Moyuka Uchijima 6-1, 6-0 in just 51 minutes to advance to the Dongfeng · Voyah Wuhan Open third round for the second straight year, as she eyes a return to the semifinals.
“Today was a good match for me,” Gauff said in her on-court interview. “I played well, so yeah, I’m just super happy to be back here in Wuhan and moving on to the next round.”
It was a clinical showing from the World No. 3, who won 12 of 13 games and 55 of 77 points. But it was her serve that stood out the most.
Gauff missed just five first serves, finishing at 85% for the match, and dropped only six points on serve. She recorded zero double faults and faced no break points.
She also kept her unforced errors to eight and tallied 16 winners.
In the last three years, Gauff (18) has the most wins on Chinese soil at the WTA level, one more than Zheng Qinwen (17).