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Tennis

Pegula loses to Ostapenko after holding three match points

Ostapenko rallies for a three-set Wuhan victory in Pegula’s first match in more than a month.

By TSP Staff
Jessica Pegula at the U.S. Open in September 2026.
Jessica Pegula at the U.S. Open in September 2026. File photograph. · Credit: Oleg Yunakov / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Jelena Ostapenko saved three match points and beat Jessica Pegula 2–6, 7–6(7), 6–3 in the Wuhan Open second round Wednesday. The match lasted two hours and 23 minutes.

Pegula, the second seed and last year’s runner-up, had three opportunities to finish the match in the second-set tiebreak. Ostapenko saved them before winning the final three points of the breaker and forcing a deciding set.

Ostapenko received a medical timeout during the second set and returned with her right arm strapped. The WTA reported that she finished with 45 winners, including 10 aces, against 37 unforced errors. She closed the match by breaking Pegula’s serve.

The result was Ostapenko’s third victory over a top-10 opponent this season and her 28th overall, according to the WTA. She next faces Leylah Fernandez or qualifier Shi Han. For Pegula, the defeat came in her first match in more than a month after a break following the U.S. Open.

Sources and notes

  1. https://apnews.com/article/wuhan-tennis-wta-01235a4a22d6dc0ea7ba952b0e612034
  2. https://www.wtatennis.com/news/4592311/in-the-moment-ostapenko-saves-three-match-points-stuns-pegula-in-wuhan
  3. Photograph: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jessica_Pegula_(2026_US_Open)_-_01.jpg
  4. Image licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0