Pegula, Navarro enter Adelaide quarters; Mensik ousts Shelton in Auckland

Jessica Pegula dropped just five games to romp past Maria Sakkari at the Adelaide International on Wednesday in a delayed start to her season days before the Australian Open.

The top seed and US Open finalist, who had a bye in the first round, overwhelmed the Greek former world number three 6-4, 6-1.

The world number seven will play fellow American Ashlyn Krueger in the quarter-finals after she stopped Spain’s Paula Badosa 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (4/7), 6-2.

But defending champion Jelena Ostapenko crashed out to 2022 winner Madison Keys, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

“I had to weather the storm and stay in it, I’m happy with how I did that today,” Keys said.

Pegula, who last played at the WTA Finals in November, improved her record against Sakkari to 6-5 as the Greek player works her way back from a shoulder injury.

“It’s always tough getting the first win of the year, you don’t know what to expect,” said Pegula.

“But it’s good heading into Melbourne next week. My focus is on doing well here first.

“It’s fun to problem-solve on court and have a good attitude to start the year.”

Second-seeded fellow American Emma Navarro, ranked eight in the world, came through a tougher assignment needing two hours to battle past Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.

She will face another Russian, Liudmila Samsonova, who ground past Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-4 ,for a place in the semi-finals.

Men’s top seed Tommy Paul had to work hard to eliminate French qualifier Manuel Guinard, ranked 261. The American emerged a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 winner and will next play Australian Rinky Hijikata, who beat American Brandon Nakashima in three sets.

“I dealt with the pressure points very well,” said Paul. “As top seed I know I’ve got a target on my back. I have to bring it tomorrow.”

Second seed Sebastian Korda put out Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 6-3, while Canadian fifth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime staged a fightback to defeat France’s Arthur Cazaux 1-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Mensik Beats Shelton: US top seed Ben Shelton’s preparation for the Australian Open was dealt a blow Wednesday with an upset loss to Czech teen sensation Jakub Mensik at the Auckland Classic.

Playing his first match in nearly two months, world number 21 Shelton was beaten 7-6 (7/2), 4-6, 7-5 in the second round by the powerful Mensik.

A clash of two of the world’s premier young players ended after more than two and a half hours when Shelton’s serve was broken for the first time, in the 12th game of the third set.

The 22-year-old American, who received a bye through the first round, served strongly but couldn’t match the consistency of his 19-year-old opponent’s groundstrokes.

Left-hander Shelton will have little match play under his belt heading to the Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne, having not previously played since representing the US in the Davis Cup nearly two months ago. World number 49 Mensik faces a quarter-final against the highest-ranked player remaining in Auckland, Portuguese seventh seed Nuno Borges.

The tournament’s top four seeds all tumbled out in the second round.

Second seed and defending champion Alejandro Tabilo of Chile was toppled in three sets by American qualifier Nishesh Basavareddy.

Argentine third and fourth seeds Sebastian Baez and Francisco Cerundolo were both eliminated in straight set defeats.

Agence France-Presse