PARIS (AP) — Jessica Pegula has made it to the French Open quarterfinals for the first time by coming back to beat Irina-Camelia Begu 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Pegula joins two other American women in the quarterfinals in Paris. Coco Gauff and Sloane Stephens face each other on Tuesday.
The 26-year-old Pegula is seeded 11th at Roland Garros. Her two previous runs to the round of eight at Grand Slam tournaments came at the Australian Open — this January and last year.
Pegula arrived in Paris with a 2-3 career record at the clay-court major, with one third-round appearance.
She needed 10 match points to close out her first-round victory and eight in the second round last week.
Pegula, whose parents own the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, will play either No. 1 Iga Swiatek or 74th-ranked Chinese teenager Zheng Qinwen in the quarterfinals.
Begu is a 31-year-old from Romania who is ranked 63rd and fell to 0-3 in fourth-round matches at majors. She was fined $10,000 earlier during this French Open after she threw her racket, which bounced into the stands and brushed a child in the stands.
Begu had won both of her past two meetings against Pegula in straight sets.
