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Miami 2024: Jessica Pegula, Danielle Collins advance to women's singles QFs

Arthur Kapetanakis | March 26, 2024

Jessica Pegula and Danielle Collins both continued their dominant form at the 2024 Miami Open with emphatic fourth-round victories on Monday. Pegula defeated Billie Jean King Cup teammate Emma Navarro, 7-6(1), 6-3, while Collins cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 upset win against 19th seed Sorana Cirstea.

 

Both Americans will compete on Wednesday in the quarterfinals, with a potential semifinal meeting ahead if both advance. Pegula will play 14th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, who upset world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, and Collins will face 23rd seed Caroline Garcia, who knocked out third seed Coco Gauff in three sets.

Pegula seeks third straight Miami SF

After falling behind 4-1 in her first meeting with the 22-year-old Navarro, Pegula took control of the match to return to the Miami quarterfinals. The Florida resident remained on course for her third straight Miami semifinal by picking up her first Top 20 win of the season.

 

"It was a really tough win. It felt like a really physical couple of sets," she said after saving six of eight break points in the victory.

 

"A lot of back and forth, momentum swings, especially in the first being down 4-1 and then in the second kind of digging myself out of some service games, which can be exhausting, just mentally and physically, having to play under stress.

 

"I thought I did a really good job and handled the situations really well against a player who's really hot. So I'm happy with that."

Jessica Pegula has not lost a set en route to the 2024 Miami Open quarterfinals. Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images.

Pegula has not dropped a set in Miami across her three victories against Zhu Lin, Leylah Fernandez and Navarro. Her toughest test came against Navarro, who entered their fourth-round meeting at a career-high WTA ranking of world No. 20, having reached the San Diego semifinals and the Indian Wells quarterfinals earlier this month.

 

"I knew she's been playing really well," Pegula said of the American, who won her first WTA title in Hobart this January. "I practiced with her a couple of times where she's played really well, so I definitely was expecting her to battle really hard today and come out with a good game plan and be really tough.

 

"I know she's either won or lost matches a lot in three sets as well. So I knew win or lose, she's going to battle hard. Even when she loses, she doesn't really give it to you very easy. That was kind of what I was trying to focus on in that second set as well, is just not let her get too much momentum and have to go to a third."

 

Two of five American women in the Miami last 16, the most since 2003, the opponents shared a warm embrace at the net post-match.

 

"She's been playing some great tennis, so it's been really nice to see," added Pegula, who is 15-3 against Americans on the WTA Tour dating back to the 2022 Citi Open. "Hopefully I'll see her in Charleston and we'll have some fun at Billie Jean King Cup as well in a couple of weeks."

 

Read More: Navarro to debut on U.S. BJK Cup team for 2024 Qualifier

Danielle Collins has won eight consecutive sets at the 2024 Miami Open. Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images.
Collins knocks off another seed

Collins has been red-hot in her farewell Miami appearance. After losing the opening set of her campaign to compatriot Bernarda Pera, she has won eight consecutive sets with the loss of just 14 combined games.

 

She has now knocked out two seeded players in her past three matches, beating 30th seed Anastasia Potapova in the second round and Cirstea in the fourth round.

 

Collins saved all three break points against her on Monday, hitting six aces and winning 75% of her first-serve points against Cirstea.

 

The 30-year-old owns a 3-0 record against her quarterfinal opponent Garcia, with a win en route to the 2019 Australian Open semifinals and a pair of San Diego victories in 2022 and 2023. Collins has won all six sets in their head-to-head.

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