Google News Korea Open: Jessica Pegula notches imperious win over Ashlyn Krueger to enter last-8
by ABBEY JOHNSON
Jessica Pegula made her way into the quarter-finals of a WTA tournament for the 11th time this year. On Thursday, Pegula defeated Ashlyn Krueger in their American derby in the second round of the Korea Open. The top-seeded player in the South Korean capital needed just 62 minutes to grasp a 6-3, 6-1 win.
The only time in the match Pegula faced problems was in the first set when she dropped her serve. In the eighth game of the set, the world no. 4 wasn’t able to create any set points for herself but faced two break points.
She did save the first but Krueger was able to pocket, what would later turn out to be, the lone break of the match for herself. Serving to reduce the deficit further at 5-3, Krueger surrendered her serve and the set, on her second set point.
Krueger’s resistance in the match lasted until her first service game of the second set. With the scores tied at one-all, Pegula went about dominating the rest of the match. In the fourth game, she did encounter brief trouble as she went down 15-40 but she extricated herself and held on to her serve on the first game point she brought up.
The 29-year-old finished the match by winning 22 of 28 first-serve points to her opponent’s 16 of 32 first-serve points. Pegula also won 15 of 23 points on return on Krueger’s second serve while winning 11 of 21 points played on her second serve.
She also finished the match by winning 24 points more than her rival’s 40.
Korea Open: Local favourites exit in R16
Pegula will take another American in Claire Liu next. Fourth seed Marie Bouzkova also took her place in the quarter-finals.
The Czech got her chance to move on when her opponent, Germany’s Eva Lys ended their match after the first set. Bouzkova was leading Lys 6-1 at the time. The last two home contenders at the Korea Open crashed out in their respective second-round encounters.
American Emina Bektas got the better of Su-Jeong Jang 6-3, 6-4 in 97 minutes. Australia’s Kimberly Birrell needed only 61 minutes to defeat Dayeon Back, 6-0, 6-1.