WTA Toronto: Defending champ Pegula eases past compatriot Krueger to make quarters

No 3 seed Jessica Pegula continued her title defence at the National Bank Open with a scrappy win over talented young qualifier Ashlyn Krueger, eventually easing past her fellow American 6-2, 6-4 to reach the last eight at the Aviva Centre.

The first set was a see-saw of broken service games, with Pegula twice earning a lead before being pegged straight back by the world No 82.

Eventually, the defending champion came out on top with four breaks to Krueger’s two to take the opening set.

That theme continued into the second, where Krueger stuck first for a 2-0 lead only for a flurry of breaks to follow with Pegula breaking serve a further three times in total to take another chaotic stanza and, with it, the match.

Pegula has entered the North American hard-court swing off the back of a disappointing run in the Olympics where she lost in the second round of the women’s singles and was knocked out of the doubles alongside Coco Gauff – also in the second round.

“I just enjoy playing here, and I think the conditions kind of suit my game” – Pegula

But victory today marks another successful step on the road to a first 1000-level title defence for the American, who kicked off her campaign with an excellent straight-sets victory over Karolina Pliskova in the first round.

 “It was an interesting match. Not really the cleanest from either of us. The conditions were really crazy with the wind, and it just felt like we couldn’t really get ahold of any good tennis, to be honest. Played the best I could, knew it was going to be a little ugly, and happy that eventually I got through that,” Pegula said after her win.

She will play the winner of the match between Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, the No 12 seed, and American Peyton Stearns next as she hopes to extend her winning streak in the tournament, which alternates between Montreal and Toronto every year.

“I just like coming here. I feel like it feels like home, kind of. I like the atmosphere, I like the courts, I like the cities that we go to, everything seems kind of easy. I have a base in Buffalo, which is not that far from here, it’s not super far from Montreal either. I think it’s just I’m comfortable up in the northeast kind of area. I just enjoy playing here, and I think the conditions kind of suit my game maybe with a little bit of a faster hard court, which I think benefits me as well.”

Earlier in the tournament, Krueger, ranked No 82, won against Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto (6-3, 6-2) and Canadian Leylah Fernandez, the No 15 seed (6-4, 6-2).

Toronto WTA 1000, other last-16 results (Aviva Centre, hard, USD 3.211.715, most recent results first):

• Katie Boulter vs. Aryna Sabalenka
• Coco Gauff vs. Diana Shnaider
• Elise Mertens vs. Liudmila Samsonova
• Victoria Azarenka vs. Peyton Stearns
• Amanda Anisimova beat Anna Kalinskaya (10): 6-2 ret.
• Taylor Townsend (LL) beat Jelena Ostapenko (4): 6-2, 6-1
• Emma Navarro (8) beat Marta Kostyuk (11): 7-5, 7-5