Jessica Pegula won't get past the quarterfinal stages at the 2023 Madrid Open after she lost to Veronika Kudermetova.
Last year, the American reached the final, where she lost only to Ons Jabeur. This year, Pegula had a difficult job of defending that result and points associated with that, and it didn't go according to her plan as she faced too big of an obstacle in the quarterfinals.
Kudermetova, who was quizzed about her Russian sponsor in the Spanish capital, had to play three difficult three-setters on her way to the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 event, and little did she know that another one awaited her against Pegula.
First set was full of breaks, but it was always the Russian who had a one-break lead. Pegula was always only re-breaking and while she found the answer two times, she couldn't find it the third time.
After first and third games, Kudermetova broke also in the seventh game of the first set and after two difficult holds, she won the first set 6-4. But the response from the world no. 3 didn't wait for a long time.
Pegula played an incredible set, not losing more than one point in any of the games and storming to a quick 6-0 win in only 22 minutes to force a decider. But in the third set, the storyline from set number one repeated itself.
Again, Kudermetova broke the American three times and Pegula was able to find the answer only twice, resulting in a 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 victory for the Russian and spot in the semifinals of the 2023 Madrid Open.
She became the first player since Dominika Cibulkova in 2016 to win four consecutive three-set matches to reach semifinals in Madrid and another difficult clash will await her in the semis as she's set to take on either the world no. 1, Iga Swiatek, or the 27th-seeded Petra Martic.
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