Jessica Pegula has confirmed her place in the Miami Open quarter-finals, where she will play Emma Raducanu.
Pegula has reached the Miami Open quarter-finals for a third consecutive year after beating Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk.
On the other hand, Raducanu has done something for the first time, after beating three consecutive American opponents to reach the last-eight at the Floridian WTA 1000 tournament.
This includes Raducanu beating Emma Navarro to obtain the third top 10 victory of her career.
Jessica Pegula says what everyone knows about Emma Raducanu
Raducanu won the US Open in 2021, but did not get her first top 10 victory until last year at the Eastbourne International.
In the second round of the grass court tournament, Raducanu beat Pegula to get what is still the highest ranked victory of her career to date.
Raducanu had to dig deep during this match, coming from a set and a break down, and even saved a match point in the second set tie-break.
This was the last time that they played, with Pegula winning their only other meeting that came on hard courts in Cincinnati.
Ahead of the next match in their head-to-head, Pegula has recalled the match in Eastbourne and heaped praised on Raducanu.
“We had a crazy match last year in Eastbourne,” Pegula told media in Miami. “I think we are 1-1 against each other. She is obviously much more confident right now.
“Probably likes the fast courts as well. Playing some good tennis. We all know she is a top player. It’s just getting matches under her belt so that she has the matches and it’s going to be really tough. Hopefully I can get some revenge for Eastbourne and get to the next round!”
Jessica Pegula provides fitness update after win over Marta Kostyuk
Despite beating Kostyuk in straight sets, there were some concerns for Pegula after she had retired from her doubles match the day prior.
However, after beating the 23rd seed in an hour and 17 minutes, Pegula played down these concerns, but admitted that she is grateful to have a day off.
“Good actually. Really good,” Pegula responded when asked how she came off physically after the match. “Another reason I think it was good for the two straight sets.
“Having to do three on back-to-back days would have been rough. So I actually feel good, I have the day off tomorrow so I am probably just going to take the day off and recover.”
Pegula and Raducanu will add the next chapter to their head-to-head in the Miami Open quarter-finals on Wednesday March 26.
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