Pegula wins Wuhan marathon; Gauff takes it easy

Jessica Pegula needed three hours and even match points to fight off a challenge from Hailey Baptiste on Wednesday, with the sixth seed finally securing a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (6) trip to the third round.

Pegula will now play ninth seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova, who beat  Ann Li 7-6 (5), 6-2

Pegula called her battling victory in hot conditions “brutal.”

“I don’t really know what to say..I had match points, and then she started playing well. I think I just got a little tentative.

“That’s all it takes sometimes for someone to come back. I’m really proud of myself for how I held it together.

“I easily could’ve just collapsed. But I held tough, so yeah, that was a wild ride.”

Gauff, who exited early in the previous China date in Beijing. swept past Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima 6-1, 6-0 in 51 minutes.

“Today was a good match for me,” Gauff said. “I played well, I’m just super happy to be moving on to the next round.”

With their sets square at one each, Pegula squandered five match points over the court of the eighth and ninth games and needed two more in the ensuing final-set tiebreaker to escape with the victory over Baptiste.