WASHINGTON — Top-seeded Jessica Pegula reached the DC Open semifinals by coming back to edge Elina Svitolina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 across more than two hours Friday.
Pegula saved six break points in the third set: five at 3-2 and the last while serving out the victory in the final game.
Svitolina, who returned to the tour in April after having a baby in October, was coming off a semifinal run last month at Wimbledon, where she eliminated No. 1 Iga Swiatek.
Pegula, a 29-year-old American, won the hard-court tournament in the nation’s capital in 2019 for one of her two WTA singles titles and claimed the doubles trophy in Washington last year. She is a six-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist and will face No. 4 seed Maria Sakkari or No. 7 seed Madison Keys in the semifinals.
Sakkari advanced to the quarterfinals by winning her rain-postponed fourth-round match against 2021 US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez 7-5, 6-2 earlier Friday.
The other women’s quarterfinals: Coco Gauff vs. Belinda Bencic and defending champion Liudmila Samsonova vs. Marta Kostyuk.
Because of rain that washed out several matches Thursday, some men needed to play twice Friday. That group includes the winner of the fourth-round matchup between three-time major champion Andy Murray and top-seeded Taylor Fritz.
Also scheduled to play in the fourth round Friday in the hopes of advancing to a quarterfinal later in the day were Americans Frances Tiafoe, against Juncheng Shang, and Chris Eubanks, against Jordan Thompson.