Jessica Pegula joined the semi-finals of China Open with a 6-7 victory (2), 6-2, 6-1 against her compatriot American Emma Navarro in Beijing.
The fifth seeded Pegula will face the seeded n ° 26 Linda Noskova for a place in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament.
Pegula needed just over two hours to defeat the Navarro of the 16th seeded in the quarterfinals. Navarro led Gamely Leave on six points in the opening set, winning it in an equality break before running out of steam while Pegula dominated the following two sets.
“I said to myself not to be too frustrated,” said Pegula after the match. “Stay calmly, try to relax a little and don’t try as hard to run the match plan. This kind allowed me to play more for free.”
Pegula saved eight of the 10 break points and reached the China Open semi-finals for the first time.
“She did a good job to remain difficult, but at the same time, I felt that I was playing in the right direction,” said Pegula.
Noskova reached his first WTA 1000 semi-final in a career with a 6-3, 6-4 victory against Sonay Kartal in England in just 70 minutes.
Noskova took control of the opening set with breaks in the seventh and ninth games, then overcome a deficit of 3-1 in the second set with breaks in the sixth and 10th games.
Noskova, 20 years old, struck six AS and converted five of the nine chances of breakup to become the youngest Czech to reach a WTA 1000 semi-final since the introduction of the format in 2009.
This is the fourth semi-final of the year for Noskova and the 10th in her career, making her the third player born since 2004 reaching two figures (Coco Gauff, Diana Shnaider).
Noskova also leads the WTA tour with 12 victories in Asia in 2025, one more than the world No. 2 Iga Swiatek in Poland.
Kartal, classified n ° 81, was disappointed by defeat in the quarter -final after eliminating the world number 5 Mirra Andreeva in the previous round.
“I am not too satisfied with the performance today, but despite everything, I had an incredible week,” said Kartal, by BBC Sport.
“I think I’m on the right track. I think it gave me a lot of confidence. I think I have proven that if I just add one or two more things in my game, I can wear my level to a top 10 level and a much higher level than I am currently classified.”
The other semi-final on Saturday is an All-American affair, with title champion and seeded n ° 2 GAUFF on Amanda Anisimova n ° 3.
– field level media
