China’s Wang Xinyu held off this year’s US Open finalist Jessica Pegula 6-3 7-5 to reach her first WTA 1000 quarter final in Wuhan. Wang Xinyu set up a quarter final match against Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Wang broke Pegula twice in the third and the ninth games to win the first set 6-3. The home player earned a break in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead earning a chance to serve for the match. Pegula broke back and held serve at 30 to draw level to 5-5. Wang earned a second break on her second match point to win the second set 7-5.
Wang has improved to 2-0 in her head-to-head against Pegula after beating her US opponent at Wimbledon in three sets last July. The Chinese player has achieved the best ever win of her career by ranking.
“On clay and grass, I did pretty well. After the Olympics, I did not have much time to train on hard courts. Slowly through matches I found my game I found my game on the hard courts, I made some adjustments accordingly. I am very happy to be back in China with a great performance here”, said Wang.
