Top seeded Jessica Pegula on Friday once again fought back from a set down to reach the WTA Charleston Open semi-finals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win against Russia’s Diana Shnaider.
Defending champion Pegula has lost the first set in all three of her matches at the tournament so far, but again dug deep to maintain her hopes of retaining the title.
The world No. 5 from the US took 2 hours, 10 minutes to defeat 19th-ranked Shnaider, relying on a formidable service game that included eight aces.
Shnaider battled well in the first two sets and broke early for a 2-0 lead in the final set, before losing six straight games.
Pegula, chasing her second tournament victory of the year after winning the title in Dubai in February, faces fourth-seeded fellow American Iva Jovic, who beat Russian Anna Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-4.
Despite a first-round bye, Pegula has clocked up nine sets and more than seven hours on court so far. She has won nine of 10 matches this year that have gone to a deciding third set.
On the other side of the draw, fifth-seeded American Madison Keys booked a semi-final spot with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over third-seeded Swiss Belinda Bencic in a battle of former Charleston champions.
Keys’ comeback win over 2022 champion Bencic has her back in the semi-finals for the first time since her own title run in 2019.
Keys, who is in her first WTA semi-final of the year, faces Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva for a place in the final. Starodubtseva beat American McCartney Kessler 6-4, 6-4.
INFIELD DUO: Cheng Tsung-che has a long road ahead to match Lee Hao-yu’s MLB hitting records, while a dispute over a salary cap plan might postpone the schedule Cheng Tsung-che of Taiwan has been traded to the Detroit Tigers, raising the possibility of an all-Taiwanese middle-infield pairing in next year’s MLB season, although a player strike is threatening to disrupt the calendar. The Boston Red Sox traded Cheng to Detroit on Thursday, a transaction log on the MLB Web site showed. The Red Sox received cash considerations in return, US media reported. Cheng would join infielder Lee Hao-yu of Taiwan on the Tigers roster, but while Lee established himself as a legitimate major league hitter this year, Cheng still has to prove himself. The 25-year-old made his MLB debut with the Pittsburgh
Irish middle-distance runner Ciara Mageean, who won European gold and competed at two Olympic Games, has died aged 34, her family announced on Sunday. “At 6:30am this morning, Ciara lost her battle with cancer surrounded by her loved ones,” said a statement posted on the athlete’s Instagram account. Mageean’s death comes just weeks after she married her long-term boyfriend in Belfast. She had been receiving treatment for bowel cancer, revealing her diagnosis in July last year and subsequently disclosing that the disease was at an advanced stage. Originally from Portaferry in County Down, Northern Ireland, Mageean established herself as one
CD Tenerife striker Jesus de Miguel yesterday died as a result of injuries he sustained in a sickening collision with FC Andorra’s goalkeeper in a Spanish second division match. “Broken with pain, with a lump in our throat and unable to believe this is real, CD Tenerife announces the tragic death, at 8am, of Jesus de Miguel Alameda,” his club said in a statement. “No words can ease the pain, nothing can lessen this great feeling of sadness. Our thoughts are with the family, his close friends and Tenerife fans, who today are grieving over this terrible news.” De Miguel,
LeBron James on Friday scored 20 points including a late tip-in to help seal the Philadelphia 76ers’ 98-93 victory over NBA champions the New York Knicks. The 76ers notched their second win of the young season over the Knicks after spoiling their championship banner-raising with a victory at Madison Square Garden on opening night. The win had a double edge as Friday’s games marked the start of the fourth edition of the NBA Cup, the NBA in-season tournament won by the Knicks before they went on to beat the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals for their first championship since 1973. Group-stage
Loading comments…