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CHARLESTON, S.C. — Top-seeded Jessica Pegula rallied from a set down and beat fellow American Amanda Anisimova 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) in a second-round match at the Charleston Open on Tuesday night.
Pegula had seven aces in the match and won despite capitalizing on 4-of-15 break points. Anisimova converted on 4-of-8 break points.
Pegula said Anisimova is tough to play because she is a great ball striker, and she can take the racket out of an opponent’s hands.
“I just kind of had to buckle down, and I think I started being a little bit more active with my feet and pressuring her a little bit more and being able to move her and kind of scrap out a few points as well,” Pegula said. “So, yeah, I just kind of found a way today, but it was a really great match, I thought, especially the last set was super high level.”
Third-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece also advanced to the third round with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria, while Magda Linette of Poland lost the first set at love and came back to beat No. 13 seed Dayana Yastremska of Bulgaria 0-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a second-round match.
Earlier in the day, Miami Open champion Danielle Collins and Sloane Stephens won first-round matches. Collins beat Paula Badosa 6-1, 6-4 at the clay-court tournament, while Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion, defeated Magdalena Frech 6-0, 6-2.
Collins has disclosed this will be her finish season on tour. She has endometriosis, an ailment that affects the uterus.
“I’d rather like to go out with a bang, you know, than the other way,” Collins said. “I know everybody has a different way of ending their professional career, and for me I want to go out playing my best tennis.”
Stephens is playing on her favorite surface.
“It’s more athletic. It’s more running, more sliding, just a lot more adversity I feel like, but in a good way,” she said. “When you think the point is over, it’s never over.”
Other winners Tuesday included Taylor Townsend, Astra Sharma, Caroline Dolehide, Ashlyn Krueger and Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
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