Paris (AFP) – American third seed Jessica Pegula battled into the last 16 of the French Open on Saturday with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Czech Marketa Vondrousova. Pegula, last year’s US Open runner-up, next meets unheralded Lois Boisson, ranked 361, the last French player competing in Roland Garros. Boisson fought through the pain to see off 138th-ranked countrywoman Elsa Jacquemot 6-3, 0-6, 7-5.
Pegula, who missed the 2024 tournament at Roland Garros due to injury, is hoping to better her previous best run in Paris, which was a quarter-final appearance three years ago. The 31-year-old has been boosted by her recent title win on clay in Charleston. But she was pushed hard by former Wimbledon champion Vondrousova, a losing finalist in Roland Garros in 2019, now ranked 96th in the world.
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“Really tough today,” said Pegula. “I know playing Marketa is always going to be a battle, especially I know we haven’t played on clay before, but I know she’s had really good results here. It’s also super humid today. I felt like it was just a really tough match mentally and physically.”
After failing to create a single break point in the first set, Pegula powered back to break Vondrousova three straight times in the second, setting up a decider. The American converted all three of her breaks in the third set, with a Vondrousova double-fault handing Pegula a 5-2 lead. She then watched the end of the all-French clash between Boisson and Jacquemot on Court Simonne Mathieu.
“I was watching the end of the match. That was crazy,” said Pegula. Boisson, 22, needed her left leg massaged between the first and second sets during the match, which lasted two hours and 23 minutes. The last time a French woman recipient of a wildcard reached the round of 16 was in 2014, with Pauline Parmentier.
“Obviously…going to have some crazy support,” said Pegula. “I’m pretty good at kind of zoning out. I have played in some pretty rowdy crowds. I think it will be fun. It will be cool to be a part of that.”
© 2024 AFP
