Jessica Pegula, the top seed, had a tough battle in the quarterfinals of the Credit One Charleston Open, as she survived four match points to defeat the 12th-seeded Victoria Azarenka with a score of 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7).
Azarenka, hailing from Belarus, also saved four match points but struggled with 12 double faults compared to none for Pegula, who was a top seed for only the sixth time in her career.
Following her victory, Pegula is set to face off against the fourth-seeded Daria Kasatkina, a Russian player who managed to convert 10 of 20 break points in her match against Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian, which lasted for 2 hours and 42 minutes.
Another American player, Danielle Collins, continued her winning streak by defeating the 11th-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium with a score of 6-3, 6-4, making it the first time since the Williams sisters were in the final four 11 years ago that two Americans have advanced to the Charleston semifinals.
Collins, a 30-year-old Floridian who will be retiring at the end of the season, recently won the Miami Open championship.
The remaining quarterfinal match featured third-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece squaring off against ninth-seeded Veronika Kudermetova of Russia.
Meanwhile, at the Copa Colsanitas tournament, eighth-seeded Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia staged a comeback after being shut out in the first set to defeat fourth-seeded Cristina Bucsa of Spain with a score of 0-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the quarterfinals held in Bogota, Columbia.
Sara Errani of Italy also had a slow start in her match against Irina Bara of Romania but managed to turn things around and win with a score of 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, securing a spot in the semifinals. Errani saved 17 of 23 break points and converted 8 of 20 opportunities.
In the other quarterfinal matches, top-seeded Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic faced off against seventh-seeded Laura Siegemund of Germany, while sixth-seeded Camila Osorio, a local favorite, played against second-seeded Tatjana Maria of Germany.
–Field Level Media
