Perfectionist Jessica Pegula breezing through Australian Open

As well as Jessica Pegula is playing tennis at the moment dropping zero sets and just 11 games total along the way to Week 2 at the Australian Open you might think shed be completely pleased with how things are goingAh but the No 3seeded Pegula is a selfdescribed perfectionist And so she gave herself a bit of a hard time about what happened late in the second set of her 60 62 victory over Marta Kostyuk in the second round on FridayI was annoyed Pegula said after the 65minute contestBy what exactly Well the 28yearold from New York was cruising along having won 10 of the first 11 games and serving with a 30love lead when she stumbled ever so slightly ever so briefly She missed three first serves in a row She put a backhand into the net She got lobbed She doublefaultedShe started muttering under her breath She sent a backhand long to end an 11stroke exchange Add it up and Pegula got broken there her lead in the second set shrinking to 42 For three minutes her play was less than idealOh the horrorAlso readThe level today was good Sinner stays sharp to reach Australian Open third roundWhen I was younger it came off as kind of a bad attitude Id get really negative or down on myself Pegula said adding that she has worked on not being so hard on myself during the matchesShe reached the quarterfinals each of the past two years at Melbourne Park she has yet to make it past that stage at a Grand Slam tournament and to get back there Pegula will need to defeat 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova nextThe other matchups on the top half of the womens draw also all include at least one past major title winner No 1 Iga Swiatek vs No 9 Elena Rybakina No 7 Coco Gauff vs No 17 Jelena Ostapenko and No 24 Victoria Azarenka vs either No 6 Maria Sakkari or Zhu Lin who were scheduled to face each other Friday nightPegula is hardly the only woman who has been rather dominant so farKrejcikova a 62 63 winner over Anhelina Kalinina also hasnt ceded a set and has allowed her foes to gather a combined 14 gamesSwiatek a threetime major champion who beat qualifier Cristina Bucsa 60 61 has won every set and lost only 15 games Rybakina the reigning Wimbledon champ got past 2022 Australian Open runnerup Danielle Collins 62 57 62I feel Im more and more confident since Day 1 here Im not even talking about matches but also practices Swiatek said I feel like Ive done so much work to feel more confident more relaxed on courtGauff an 18yearold from Florida advanced to a meeting against 2017 French Open winner Ostapenko by defeating Bernarda Pera 63 62 Gauffs opponents have collected all of 19 games through three matchesShes also playing doubles with her pal Pegula in Melbourne and keeping tabs on someone she could meet in the singles semifinalsI do watch her matches as a friend I would say said Gauff who lost to Swiatek in the final at Roland Garros last June Shes been playing well Shes always playing well I feel like shes just one of those players on tour that is just consistent and plays well I think shes always a contender in a Slam Thats just my personal opinionA highlevel showdown for the fourth round was set up in the mens bracket No 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas vs No 15 Jannik Sinner Tsitsipas a 24yearold from Greece who lost to Novak Djokovic in the 2021 French Open final was one point from giving away the second set but held on there and beat Tallon Griekspoor 62 76 5 63Another Sunday matchup that was set No 6 Felix AugerAliassime vs Jiri LeheckaNo 31 Yoshihito Nishioka was a 76 6 63 62 winner over Mackenzie McDonald who eliminated 22time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal in the previous roundLate matches Friday included No 16 Frances Tiafoe against No 18 Karen Khachanov No 7 Daniil Medvedev against No 29 Sebastian Korda and No 10 Hubert Hurkacz against No 20 Denis ShapovalovSinner a 21yearold from Italy erased a twoset deficit for the first time in his career and grabbed the final 12 games in a 46 46 61 62 60 victory over Marton FucsovicsFor sure the first two sets were very tough for me Sinner said I went on court with one tactic then I had to change a little bitThat worked eventuallyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever