Top seed Pegula survives spirited Anisimova challenge, Keys upset by Cristian

Jessica Pegula is into the third round of the Credit One Charleston Open – just barely.

The top seed and world No.5 survived a three-set thriller against fellow American Amanda Anisimova on Tuesday (April 2) night, coming back to win 3-6 6-4 7-6(3) in two hours and 26 minutes.

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Pegula’s fellow seeded American Madison Keys wasn’t as lucky, falling in three sets to Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian, who claimed just her second career win over a Top 20 foe with a 3-6 6-3 6-3 upset.

In the evening’s opening match, Pegula was also in trouble, but had a match point denied in the tenth game of the decider, but ran away in the breaker, sprinting out to a 5-1 lead and closing out the match on a forehand wide from her compatriot.

“I had to buckle down,” Pegula told reporters after the three-set win. “[Amanda] is just a really great ball striker, and she can really take the racquet out of your hands. So when she’s hot, it’s really tough. [I wondered] how she was going to start, and she started off really well. I was like, ‘Crap, this is going to be tough.'”

The 30-year-old was a semifinalist here a year ago, but was made to work hard throughout the second-round clash in front of a boisterous Credit One Stadium crowd, winning just four of 15 break point opportunities.

She’ll meet Magda Linette in the third round after the Polish 32-year-old rallied from a first-set bagel to beat Dayana Yastremska across three sets.

Pegula won their only meeting last year in Miami.

Jess gets over the line 👉

Top seed @JPegula was made to work, outlasting Anisimova 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 in a Charleston thriller under the lights to begin her campaign this week!#CharlestonOpen pic.twitter.com/0XEzsYNJZQ

— Credit One Charleston Open (@CharlestonOpen) April 3, 2024