Pegula survived Davis’ scare to advance at Wimbledon

Fourth seed Jessica Pegula survived a serious scare from American Lauren Davis in the first round of Wimbledon when she broke in the third set to win 6-2, 6-7(8), 6-3 in two hours. and 19 minutes.

Pegula has not lost in the opening round of a Slam tournament since falling to Aryna Sabalenka at Roland Garros 2020 and recovered from three match points in the second set tiebreak to retain her streak. A five-time quarterfinalist, he has yet to get past the third round at Wimbledon.

Countrymen Davis and Pegula first met 11 years ago in the quarterfinals of the ITF W75 event in Albuquerque. Davis won it 6-3, 6-7(9), 6-4, but Pegula has now won the last four contests going into 2016 and leads the overall series 4-2.

How the match was won:Pegula delivered a dominant first set, dropping just three points on serve and capitalizing on Davis’ 13 unforced errors to take the lead.

But the 46th-ranked Davis, who captured her second Hologic WTA Tour title in Hobart in January, began to find her groove in the second set, finding a stunning forehand to break Pegula 5-3.

Towards the end of the second set, Pegula had several lucky strikes. Davis was serving a run, and one of Pegula’s putts slipped off the baseline, allowing Davis to explode on an unexpected bounce. At 5-5 in the tiebreak, the net lead pulled Davis forward, allowing Pegula to get a simple pass to pick up his first match point. Two points later, a Davis volley hit the top of the tape and bounced back to her side, giving Pegula her second match point.

But Davis held on, saving three match points with quality aggressive play and converting her second set point when a Pegula backhand went long.

Davis was vying for her sixth career Top 10 win and second at Wimbledon; four years ago, she became the first lucky loser to dethrone the defending champion here when she beat Angelique Kerber 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 in the 2019 second round. With all the speed, the 29-year-old got an immediate break in the decider after winning the best point of the match, pushing the entire court before winning the winning serve.

But Pegula broke in the next game and went back to basics with a watertight third set. He lost just four more points after serving, breaking Davis for 5-3 and serving out with little fuss, converting his fourth match point with a high backhand volley winner.