Home favourite Jessica Pegula cruises into the Miami Open quarter-finals as American No 1 completes impressive straight sets win over Magda Linette
- Jessica Pegula saw off Magda Linette to reach the Miami Open quarter-finals
- The home favourite beat the Pole 6-1 7-5 and will face Anastasia Potapova next
American No 1 Jessica Pegula continued to make the most of home advantage as she saw off Magda Linette to reach the quarter-finals of the Miami Open.
Pegula lives about 30 minutes north of Hard Rock Stadium – driving to the venue each day – and made a fast start against veteran Pole Linette, racing into a 5-0 lead inside 20 minutes before swiftly closing out the first set.
Linette, though, regrouped with a couple of breaks in the second to appear set to force a decider when 5-2 ahead.
However, Pegula, a quarter-finalist at the Australian Open, dug deep to swing the match back in her favour with a run of five straight games to complete an impressive 6-1 7-5 win.
‘I love playing on this court, being at home in Florida, in a football stadium, it is just great all round,’ Pegula said in her courtside interview, broadcast on Amazon Prime Video.
Jessica Pegula (pictured) saw off Magda Linette to reach the Miami Open quarter-finals
Linette regrouped after losing the first set and was able to force a decider when 5-2 ahead
However, Pegula, dug deep to complete an impressive 6-1 7-5 win on Tuesday
‘She is a really good competitor and was not going to let me win easily.
‘She picked up her level a bit (in the second set) and mine started to drop, then I started to be more aggressive and got into a rhythm again and was able to reel off some games.’
Pegula goes on to face Russian Anastasia Potapova, the world No 26, who beat China’s Qinwen Zheng 6-4 7-6 (4). The pair met in the third round at Indian Wells, where Pegula came through in three sets.
Italy’s Martina Trevisan also progressed in straight sets after seeing off 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-3 6-3, while Romanian Sorana Cirstea beat Marketa Vondrousova 7-6 (3) 6-4 to book her quarter-final spot.
