After her opening win at the China Open, Jessica Pegula is only behind Iga Swiatek in terms of hard court dominance
Top-seeded American Jessica Pegula may have had a slow start to the 2024 season, but after her second-round win at the 2024 China Open, the US Open finalist has shown little sign of slowing down this summer. The Buffalo native was in excellent form during the North American summer hard court season. Pegula defended her Canadian Open title and finished second in Cincinnati. The 30-year-old then reached her first Grand Slam final at the US Open before losing to world number 2 Aryna Sabalenka.
Pegula is number two after Swiatek in hard court victories After beating France’s Diane Perry in her first-round match in Beijing, Pegula has racked up 135 wins on hard courts since the start of 2020. This means she is only behind world number one Iga Swiatek, who recorded 147 hard court victories in the same period. Aryna Sabalenka is in third place with 133 hard court wins since the beginning of 2020. Pegula seems to have a fondness for this surface, having won five of her six WTA singles titles on hard courts. She has also reached 11 of her 14 career finals on this surface. The world No. 3 has won 16 of her last 18 matches, losing both to Sabalenka. Both women are competing in this year’s China Open, with Sabalenka seeded number one while Pegula is seeded number two.