The World No.4 Jessica Pegula progressed to her eighth quarterfinal of the season after beating Peyton Stearns 6-3, 6-4 at the Citi Open. A champion in Washington DC in 2019, Pegula’s triumph sets a marquee match-up against former No.3 Elina Svitolina. Pegula is attempting to win her first event of the season and third of her career this week as the top seed in Washington DC for the second year in a row. “I won my first title here with my coach in our first week together and since then we’ve just been rising and it’s been an awesome journey. That was a very big turning point for me,” Pegula said. Pegula’s two career titles have both come on hard courts in North America. She won her maiden championship in Washington four years ago and the biggest trophy of her career last autumn at the WTA 1000 in Guadalajara.
Stearns failed to break through the top-ranked American’s baseline consistency in her first meeting with Pegula. Pegula, who was playing her first tournament since her best result at Wimbledon last month, showed no signs of rust as she gradually outworked Stearns for the 1-hour and 23-minute match. Pegula broke Stearns’ service six times, hitting 12 winners and making 19 unforced errors. Stearns hit 9 home runs while making 29 errors. “She’s an amazing competitor, obviously an amazing player. What she’s done after coming back after giving birth and everything that her country is going through, it’s been really amazing,” Pegula said. “I feel like she’s coming back with a new perspective, a new outlook, and that’s showing on the court. She’s competing really, really hard and hasn’t really seemed to skip a beat. It’s going to be really tough,” he added.
