Pegula wins billionaire battle in Beijing

Jessica Pegula won Friday’s WTA battle of billionaires, as she defeated American compatriot Emma Navarro 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-1 for a place in the semi-finals of the China Open.

The pair of players from billionaire family wealth have paced off three times with seventh-ranked Pegula winning them all.

Pegula was frustrated in the opening set, where she twice served for it only to lose in a tiebreaker.

But the 2024 US Open finalist bounced back strong in the next two sets to advance to a semi-final against Linda Noskova.

The Czech ended the upset dream of Sonay Kartel with a 6-3, 6-4 win.

“I told myself not to get too frustrated,” Pegula said of her early disappointment.

“Just stay calm, try to relax a little bit, and not try as hard to execute the game plan. That kind of allowed me to play more free.”

Noskova pulled No.. 81 Kartal back down to earth after the Brit had stunned world No. 5 Mirra Andreeva in the previous round.

“Their were lots of ups and downs, definitely because of all the (11) break points,” Noskova said. “Me breaking back in the second set was the main goal for me.”