PEGULA and PAOLINI high level seeds take different paths with bad districts of Homburg
The first two seeds of the Bad Homburg Open progressed in the quarterfinals on Tuesday – each in a very different way.
The seeded n ° 2 Jasmine Paolini recorded several section points and wasted several match points before passing ahead Leylah Fernandez 7-6 (8), 7-6 (6) in 2 hours and 32 minutes-tied for the second longest match in two sets of the season. On the other hand, the n ° 1 Jessica Pegula only needed 66 minutes to send the qualification Katerina Siniakova 6-3, 6-2 with clinical efficiency.
Paolini’s victory was a clutch and grain All-Court game showcase. The tone was fixed in an opening match at seven devices that Fernandez finally won, and from there, Momentum swung several times. Paolini, Sharp At Net, built an advance of 4-2, but Fernandez replied with three consecutive games. At 6-5, the Canadian obtained his first section of section, only for Paolini to erase it with the shot of the match with a lob running at the end of a punitive rally.
Fernandez had two other chances in equality, but Paolini held firm, finally converting his second point with a surprise short-circuit at the end of another absorbent rally.
Paolini took its momentum in an advance of 5-2 in the second set, but Fernandez had increased its reference aggression, in particular on its right wing. It started to bear fruit as she was starting to ride a remarkable return. Decreasing 5-2, she moved a first match point with an ace, then climbed at 5-5. Fernandez escaped a triple match point 6-5 while the back of Paolini left the champion of Rome broken down, then was about to force a third set while she was holding the double point in the equality break.
But Fernandez could not convert either, and a relieved paolini escaped with the last four points of the affiliated match. She will then face the seeded n ° 7 Elina Svitolina or Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Pegula and Siniakova have become frequent enemies over the years, and their best battles have come on the grass. Siniakova was a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory in the second round of Homburg in 2021, the year she made her first final here; Last year, Pegula beat the Czech 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of Berlin on the way to his first land title.
There was not such a barnburner during their third meeting on German lawns. Pegula was almost impenetrable to the service, dropping only four points behind his first delivery and clashes only two break points all day. She advances to face Emma Navarro, the seeded n ° 5, the Joker Naomi Osaka.
