(Reuters) – Third seed Jessica Pegula breezed past Canadian qualifier Katherine Sebov 6-3 6-1 on Thursday to book her spot in the third round of the Miami Open.
Pegula, a semi-finalist last year in Miami who lives about 40 minutes away from the tournament venue, converted five of her nine break point opportunities and found her groove as her first career match against Sebov wore on.
“I just went out the and took care of business … fought through some tricky moments in the first set but then I think I started to free up after that,” Pegula said in her on-court interview.
Pegula opened the match with a break but Sebov broke back at love to level at 2-2 before the American took control with another break for a 3-2 lead and closed out the first set in 35 minutes.
The 29-year-old Pegula had a much easier time in the second set where she broke early for a 2-0 lead and dropped just two points on serve the rest of the way.
Pegula set up a showdown with fellow American Danielle Collins, who was a 7-6(3) 6-2 winner over Bulgarian lucky loser Viktoria Tomova.
Sixth seed Coco Gauff, coming off a run to the quarter-finals in Indian Wells where she lost to eventual runner-up Aryna Sabalenka, followed Pegula onto the Stadium court for a clash with Canada’s Rebecca Marino.
In other second-round action, Belgian Elise Mertens beat Russian eighth seed Daria Kasatkina, Spanish 21st seed Paula Badosa overcame Germany’s Laura Siegemund and China’s Zheng Qinwen, the 23rd seed, beat Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu.
Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, fresh off her triumph at Indian Wells, will close out the evening session when she faces Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya for a spot in the third round.
If Rybakina lifts the title in Miami, she would become only the fifth woman to win the Indian Wells and Miami tournaments back-to-back, a feat known as the “Sunshine Double” given the tournaments’ locations in California and Florida.
On the men’s side, Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin, who made a surprising run to the fourth round at Indian Wells, beat Marcos Giron 6-2 2-6 6-4 to reach the second round in Miami.
Austrain wildcard Dominic Thiem will kick off the evening session with a first-round clash against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego while Frenchman Richard Gasquet battles Australian lucky loser Christopher O’Connell.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Ed Osmond)
