agencies
NEW YORK, Sept 4: Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys kept noticing their names near each other in tournament draws this summer.
"We were like, I think the world just wants us to play,'" Pegula said.
At the U.S. Open, they finally will.
Pegula beat Elina Svitolina 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 on Saturday, setting up a fourth-round matchup against the No. 17-seeded Keys.
Pegula, the No. 3 seed, is still trying to advance beyond the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament. First, she'll have to get by the 2017 runner-up in Flushing Meadows who also needed three sets to move on.
Keys came back to eliminate No. 14 Liudmila Samsonova 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.
Ons Jabeur, the No. 5 seed who lost in the finals last year, also reached the fourth round by outlasting No. 31 Marie Bouzkova 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in a match that took 2 hours, 56 minutes. Jabeur will face No. 23 Zheng Qinwen of China, who edged Lucia Bronzetti 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
Pegula and Keys could have met early in both Montreal and Cincinnati, but Keys had to withdraw with a hip injury in Canada - where Pegula won the title - and lost her opening match in Ohio.
So they've still played only once, a victory for Pegula last year in San Diego, though do hit together sometimes.
"Every time I practice with her, she just has the ability to just hit aces and rip forehands and backhands, play a really big power game," Pegula said.
"It will be interesting to see how smart I can play and what I can do to combat that."
Other winners on the women's side Saturday included No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, who routed Clara Burel 6-1, 6-1, and No. 13 Daria Kasatkina, who topped Greet Minnen 6-3, 6-4 and will face the Australian Open champion Monday.
Pegula then found herself in a tough test with Svitolina, the No. 26 seed from Ukraine who reached the U.S. Open semifinals in 2019. It was tied 2-2 in the third set before the 29-year-old from Florida broke serve to start a run of four straight games to win the match.
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