Jessica Pegula, Emma Raducanu into third spherical at U.S. Open

Jessica Pegula labored a tick over an hour to advance to the third spherical of the U.S. Open on Wednesday with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Russia’s Anna Blinkova.

Pegula, the runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka eventually yr’s Open, had 30 winners and no double-faults and is ready for a match towards three-time runner-up and two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus on Friday.

Pegula has dropped solely eight whole video games in her two matches. She has now posted wins within the first two rounds for the sixth consecutive U.S. Open.

Pegula and Azarenka every have three wins of their six profession matches.

Pegula saved 4 match factors in a third-set tiebreaker to defeat Azarenka on the Charleston Open in 2024. Azarenka claimed their 2023 match within the Australian Open quarterfinals.

A former World No. 1, the 36-year-old Azarenka fell behind Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova earlier than profiting from 25 unforced errors for a 6-3, 6-3 victory.

“She began actually robust, I needed to discover my ft and get my depth up and begin making extra first balls and dictating extra,” Azarenka mentioned. “However after just a few video games, I began to search out my kind a bit bit.”

Emma Raducanu, the U.S. Open champion as a qualifier 4 years in the past, rode a dominant first serve to a straightforward win. She wanted exactly 60 minutes for a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Indonesian qualifier Janice Tjen. Raducanu, the British No. 1 participant, has solely dropped six video games via two matches within the 2025 U.S. Open.

“I am very happy with how I performed at this time within the second spherical. After two days it form of breaks the rhythm a bit bit,” Raducanu mentioned.

No. 10 seed Emma Navarro received a matchup of Individuals, defeating Caty McNally 6-2, 6-1. She’ll face the Czech Republic’s Barbara Krejcikova, who started her event with an upset of No. 22 seed Victoria Mboko of Canada, within the third spherical.

–Subject Stage Media