Tennis-American Pegula rallies to beat Begu and reach first Paris quarters

By Sudipto Ganguly

PARIS (Reuters) - American Jessica Pegula fought back to defeat 63rd-ranked Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu 4-6 6-2 6-3 on Monday to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open for the first time.

The the 11th-seeded Pegula, the highest seed remaining in the women's draw after world number one Iga Swiatek, became the third American woman to reach the last eight of the claycourt Grand Slam at this year's Roland Garros tournament.

Pegula, who made the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in 2021 and 2022, did not lose a set in her first three rounds but Begu broke the American early and then sealed the opening set with a second break.

Pegula had lost both of their previous meetings in straight sets coming into Monday's contest and was forced to dig deep.

The 28-year-old found her rhythm and broke Begu's serve three times over the next two sets to book her spot against either Swiatek or Chinese teenager Zheng Qinwen.

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"It's been weird because the first few matches until today I was cruising really fast, getting really big leads really quickly, losing some of those leads," Pegula said.

"Today I definitely didn't feel like I was playing my best from the get go, getting a little frustrated and then had to claw my way back. So it was basically the opposite of what I've been doing.

"I just tried to stay calm and think about what I had to do and also just try to hold on to my serve and get as many chances and just kind of grind it out.

"I was able to not get frustrated and then stay calm and figure out strategically what I needed to do. And then I was able to execute that, luckily."

With her victory against the 31-year-old Begu, Pegula also