Wimbledon: Pegula ‘feeling good’ as she eases into second round

Fifth seed Jessica Pegula eased into the second round of Wimbledon, dropping just two games against fellow American Ashlyn Krueger on Tuesday.

Playing the first match on Court 2, Pegula needed only 50 minutes to win 6-2, 6-0 and book her spot in the second round before rain interrupted play on the outer courts.

“Feeling really good. I’m happy I got through before the rain came. That’s always a bonus, especially here. Feeling really good that I played a solid match,” the American told the media after her win.

The world No 5, who missed the entire European clay court stretch due to injury, picked up a title on gras in Berlin coming into the tournament, putting herself in the mix as a title contender this fortnight. She will next meet either world No 42 Xinyu Wang or 48th-ranked Viktoriya Tomova.

Pegula, who has been one of the most consistent performers on the tour over the past couple of seasons, said she has been reminding herself to be patient with herself after her long injury break.

“It was a little tough because I’ve come back from injuries before, but at the same time it’s always tough to, like, come back, and you don’t really know where your game is at. You see girls winning tournaments, winning slams. You see the top players already doing well. You kind of wonder where your level is at a little bit. I think I just had to kind of remind myself, I obviously was very patient with my injury, I didn’t want to come back too fast, which is a tough decision to make.”

“I think I just kind of took that in the back of my mind. I think it’s just perspective, using it as, Okay, I’m going to come into Europe a lot more fresh, a lot healthier, than going through the whole Europe swing from the clay. I’m going to be ready for the Olympics and the hard courts and the rest of the year.
I was looking at it as more of a positive, and I think that helped.”

Other early winners on Tuesday included Britain’s Harriet Dart, who defeated qualifier Zhuoxuan Bai in straight sets, and German Laura Siegemund, who beat Kateryna Kozlova, also in straight sets.

Wimbledon (Grand Slam), first-round matches (All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, grass, GBP 50,000,000):

• Jessica Pegula (5) beat Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-0
• Harriet Dart beat Zhuoxuan Bai 6-4, 6-0
• Laura Siegemund beat Kateryna Baindl 6-4, 6-1
• Linda Noskova (26) beat Sara Errani: 7-6 (3), 6-1
• Emma Navarro (19) beat Qiang Wang: 6-0, 6-2
• Paula Badosa beat Karolina Muchova: 6-3, 6-2
• Coco Gauff (2) beat Caroline Dolehide: 6-1, 6-2
• Bianca Andreescu beat Jaqueline Cristian: 6-4, 6-2
• Sonay Kartal (Q) beat Sorana Cirstea (29): 3-6, 6-2, 6-0
• Yuriko Lily Miyazaki (WC) beat Tamara Korpatsch: 6-2, 6-1
• Sloane Stephens beat Elsa Jacquemot (LL): 6-3, 6-3
• Yulia Starodubtseva (Q) beat Alison Van Uytvanck: 6-4, 6-3
• Emma Raducanu (WC) beat Renata Zarazua (LL): 7-6, 6-3
• Erika Andreeva (LL) beat Emina Bektas: 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3
• Donna Vekic beat Xiyu Wang: 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Lulu Sun (Q) beat Qinwen Zheng (8): 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
• Clara Burel beat Eva Lys (Q): 6-2, 6-4
• Daria Saville beat Peyton Stearns: 6-4, 6-2
• Naomi Osaka (WC) beat Diane Parry: 6-1, 1-6, 6-4
• Madison Keys (12) beat Martina Trevisan: 6-4, 7-6 (4)
• Diana Shnaider beat Karolina Pliskova: 4-6, 6-4, 7-5
• Yafan Wang beat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova: 6-0, 3-6, 6-4
• Jasmine Paolini (7) beat Sara Sorribes Tormo: 7-5, 6-3
• Arantxa Rus beat Yue Yuan: 6-2, 6-3
• Elise Mertens beat Nao Hibino: 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
• Daria Kasatkina (14) beat Shuai Zhang: 6-3, 6-0
• Marta Kostyuk (18) beat Rebecca Sramkova: 6-3, 6-2
• Anca Todoni (Q) beat Olga Danilovic (LL): 7-5, 6-1
• Greet Minnen beat Heather Watson (WC): 7-5, 6-4
• Varvara Gracheva beat Lesia Tsurenko: 6-3, 6-1
• Dayana Yastremska (28) beat Nadia Podoroska: 6-1, 7-6 (1)
• Maria Sakkari (9) beat McCartney Kessler (Q): 6-3, 6-1
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (25) beat Taylor Townsend: 7-6 (4), 6-1
• Lin Zhu beat Irina-Camelia Begu: 6-0, 6-4
• Magda Linette vs. Elina Svitolina
• Ons Jabeur vs. Moyuka Uchijima
• Maria Lourdes Carle vs. Katie Volynets
• Barbora Krejcikova vs. Veronika Kudermetova
• Magdalena Frech vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia
• Camila Osorio vs. Lauren Davis
• Danielle Collins vs. Clara Tauson
• Francesca Jones vs. Petra Martic
• Iga Swiatek vs. Sofia Kenin
• Viktorija Golubic vs. Jule Niemeier
• Caroline Wozniacki vs. Alycia Parks
• Oceane Dodin vs. Daria Snigur
• Robin Montgomery vs. Olivia Gadecki
• Mayar Sherif vs. Dalma Galfi
• Marina Stakusic vs. Katerina Siniakova
• Yulia Putintseva vs. Angelique Kerber
• Jessica Bouzas Maneiro vs. Marketa Vondrousova
• Katie Boulter vs. Tatjana Maria
• Rebeka Masarova vs. Liudmila Samsonova
• Marie Bouzkova vs. Julia Riera
• Anna Kalinskaya vs. Panna Udvardy
• Lucia Bronzetti vs. Leylah Fernandez
• Elena Rybakina vs. Elena-Gabriela Ruse
• Ajla Tomljanovic vs. Jelena Ostapenko
• Bernarda Pera vs. Anastasia Potapova
• Caroline Garcia vs. Anna Blinkova
• Anhelina Kalinina vs. Elina Avanesyan
• Cristina Bucsa vs. Ana Bogdan
• Xinyu Wang vs. Viktoriya Tomova