Tennis-Pegula overcomes Fernandez to return to US Open fourth round

Tennis - U.S. Open - Flushing Meadows, New York, United States - September 4, 2026 Jessica Pegula of the U.S. celebrates winning the second set during her third round match against Canada's Leylah Fernandez IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Robert Deutsch

NEW YORK, Sept 4 (Reuters) - ⁠Jessica Pegula kept alive her bid for a maiden Grand Slam title when the ⁠third-seeded American rallied from behind to beat fellow former U.S. Open finalist Leylah ‌Fernandez 1-6 6-4 6-3 and make the fourth round at Flushing Meadows on Friday.

Pegula faces Sorana Cirstea in the last 16 and will need to iron out some of the flaws in her game after a sluggish start against Fernandez, ​but the American showed the resilience and composure that have ⁠made her one of the title ⁠contenders.

Back at Arthur Ashe Stadium, where her dream run ended against Emma Raducanu in the 2021 ⁠title ‌clash, the 23-year-old Fernandez seized the initiative and rarely allowed Pegula to find any rhythm early in the contest.

"It was really tough today. I always feel it's hard to ⁠play her. I never feel comfortable when I play her, ​even when I have won," ‌Pegula said.

"I was going to have to dig deep. I'm glad I was able ⁠to find somewhere there ​in the second set to turn it around. She's a great player, so it was really hard. A lot of it revolves around my serve. My serve percentage was pretty bad."

The Canadian dominated play with ⁠her left-handed aggression as she pushed 2024 runner-up Pegula ​back with deep groundstrokes while mixing up the pace and angles to take the opening set in 30 minutes.

Pegula responded strongly by breaking in the sixth game of the second set and then dug ⁠out a crucial hold in the following one before Fernandez mounted a fightback, but the American recovered to force a decider.

"I do think she played a bit differently today to when I've played her in the past," Pegula added.

"I wasn't moving my feet up to the ball, and was ​a little lazy to start off. Even in the second set, ⁠I felt I was hitting a bit of a wall after we played those two games."

The ​32-year-old saved breakpoints early in the third set and pounced ‌for a 3-1 lead when Fernandez sent her shot ​wide, before easing through the following games and sealing victory with a backhand volley winner on match point.

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in New York; editing by Clare Fallon)

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网球 - 美国网球公开赛 - 美国纽约法拉盛草地网球场 - 2026年9月4日 美国选手杰西卡·佩古拉在第三轮比赛中战胜加拿大选手莱拉·费尔南德斯后庆祝赢得第二盘。（图片来源：路透社/罗伯特·德意志）

纽约，9 月 4 日（路透社）——美国选手杰西卡·佩古拉（Jessica Pegula）在周五的法拉盛草地网球公开赛上，以 1-6、6-4、6-3 的比分逆转战胜了同样是前美网亚军的莱拉·费尔南德斯（Leylah Fernandez），晋级第四轮，继续保持着她冲击首个大满贯冠军的希望。

佩古拉将在 16 强赛中对阵索拉娜·科斯蒂亚，在对阵费尔南德斯的比赛中开局慢热之后，她需要解决比赛中的一些缺陷，但这位美国选手展现出了韧性和沉着冷静，这使她成为冠军争夺者之一。

回到阿瑟·阿什球场，2021 年，费尔南德斯的梦想之旅正是在这里被艾玛·拉杜卡努终结，无缘冠军。23 岁的费尔南德斯抓住机会，在比赛初期几乎没有给佩古拉任何节奏。

“今天真的很难打。我总觉得和她比赛很艰难。即使赢了，和她比赛我也从来没有感觉很舒服，”佩古拉说道。

“我必须全力以赴。很高兴我在第二盘找到了状态，扭转了局面。她是一位非常优秀的球员，所以比赛真的很艰难。很多时候都取决于我的发球。我的发球成功率很低。”

这位加拿大选手凭借左手进攻性打法占据了比赛主导地位，她用深远的底线击球将 2024 年亚军佩古拉压制在后方，同时不断变换速度和角度，仅用 30 分钟就赢得了第一盘。

佩古拉在第二盘第六局强势破发，随后在下一局艰难保发，费尔南德斯奋起反击，但美国选手最终还是将比赛拖入决胜盘。

佩古拉补充道：“我确实觉得她今天的表现和以往我跟她交手时有些不同。”

“我当时脚步不够快，没有积极地跟上球，开局有点懒散。即使到了第二盘，打完那两局之后，我也感觉自己有点儿陷入了瓶颈。”

这位 32 岁的选手在第三盘开局挽救了破发点，并在费尔南德斯回球出界后以 3-1 领先，随后轻松拿下接下来的几局，并在赛点上以反手截击制胜分锁定胜局。

（纽约 Shrivathsa Sridhar 报道；Clare Fallon 编辑）

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