World No. 5 Pegula Stunned In 72-Minute Second-Round Defeat At Australian Open

| by Erik Virostko

Jessica Pegula became the highest-ranked player to exit the 2024 Australian Open after she was beaten by world no. 51 Clara Burel.

While all of the Top 16 seeds in the men's event are still competing, in the women's tournament, already seven out of the Top 16 seeds are out, and four of the Top 8.

Ons Jabeur was stunned by an incredible Mirra Andreeva, Maria Sakkari lost to Elina Avanesyan, and Marketa Vondrousova lost to Dayana Yastremska. Now, Pegula joined them as the fifth seed lost in her second-round match.

After overcoming Rebecca Marino without any major difficulties in her first-round match, Pegula's second round match took an unexpected twist, especially after she started it with a break of her opponent's serve.

However, the French player immediately broke back, and while both players held their serves comfortably for the large part of the first set, Pegula felt the pressure at 4-5, losing her serve and the first set 4-6.

Collins Drops Bombshell Retirement News After Swiatek Loss At Australian Open
Collins Drops Bombshell Retirement News After Swiatek Loss At Australian Open

But things were looking good for the American player at the start of the second set since she got an early break again and led 2-0. Little did she know that it would be the last game that she would have won.

Burel was just incredible on her serve, losing only one more point in the remainder of the match, and on return, the Frenchwoman created five break points chances, and used three to stun the world no. 5, 6-4, 6-2.

While Burel will now look to a third-round match with fellow compatriot Oceane Dodin, Pegula will want to forget the loss and focus on the remainder of the 2024 WTA season.

Swiatek Survives Major Scare Against Collins To Advance At Australian Open
Swiatek Survives Major Scare Against Collins To Advance At Australian Open

Clara Burel vs Jessica Pegula Match Stats:

Clara Burel Jessica Pegula
2 Aces 0
4 Double Faults 2
57% First Serve % 52%
71% (20/28) Points Won After First Serve % 60% (21/35)
62% (13/21) Points Won After Second Serve % 41% (13/32)
50% (5/10) Break Point Conversion 0% (0/2)
17 Winners 9
26 Unforced Errors 31

Read the full article

Just in

Look at more articles