WUHAN, China (AP) — Jessica Pegula was twice broken while serving for the match in the third set but recovered to edge Hailey Baptiste in a tight tiebreaker Wednesday and advance at the Wuhan Open. Sixth-seeded Pegula beat her fellow American 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (6) on her seventh match point to reach the third round. Pegula, wholost in the China Open semifinalslast week, will next play ninth-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova, who beat American Ann Li 7-6 (5), 6-2. No. 3Coco Gauff, coming off a semifinal loss to eventualchampion Amanda Anisimova at the China Openlast week, breezed into the next round with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Moyuka Uchijima in 51 minutes. No. 16 Liudmila Samsonova rallied to beat 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, and qualifier Kateřina Siniaková beat Maya Joint 6-3, 6-1. U.S. Open championAryna Sabalenka and 11th-seeded Naomi Osaka were scheduled to play later Wednesday. Top-ranked Sabalenka, who took a Greek holiday after her second consecutive win at Flushing Meadows, withdrew from last week's China Open, another WTA 1000-level event. "I feel good," Sabalenka said on her arrival in Wuhan. "I just didn't want to rush my body into the tournament. So I think we made the right decision to take extra time for recovery and for the preparation. Physically, I feel ready to go." Sabalenka has had an amazing run in Wuhan — her record is 17-0 while winning titles in 2018, 2019 and 2024. ___ AP tennis:https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
