The Spanish chains bad results in Indian Wells and Miami
Pegula will face the Swiss Belinda Bencic this Saturday
The Spanish Paula Badosanumber 33 in the world ranking, surrendered this Friday to the first favorite, Jessica Pegula (6-3 and 7-6 (5)), in the quarterfinals of the WTA 500 in Charleston.
Badosa was a break down in the second set and managed to prolong the game by getting a break with 4-5 on the scoreboard to force a tiebreaker, but ended up surrendering to a more solid Pegula in decisive moments.
The Spanish player, who is going through a difficult moment, with early eliminations in Indian Wells and Miami, He showed growth on the clay of Charleston and pushed Pegula, number three in the world, to the limit.
He was 3-1 up in the tiebreaker of the second set and, after dropping five straight points, disallowed one match point, before conceding on the second.
Pegula advanced to the semifinals, which were reached by the top four seeds.
It will be measured this Saturday with the Swiss Belinda Bencicwhile the second and third seeds of the tournament, the Tunisian Ons Jabeur and the Russian Daria Kasatkina, respectively, will meet in the other semifinal.
Jabeurfifth player in the world and winner last year in Berlin and the WTA 1000 in Madrid that they added to Birmingham in 2021, beat Russia’s Anna Kalinskayawho withdrew when the African was winning 6-0 and 4-1.
The Tunisian tennis player, unsuccessful Charleston finalist in the last two years, will look for a new final in the duel against Kasatkinathird seed, who defeated the American Madison Keys 6-7 (5), 6-4 and 6-2.
Kasatkina, champion of this tournament in 2017, has been a finalist this year in Adelaide. He aspires to his seventh title in the American competition, the first of 2023.