Katie Boulter: Briton is eliminated from the China Open in the third round against Coco Gauff | Tennis News

British number 1 Katie Boulter was eliminated from the China Open by American Coco Gauff in straight sets 7-5, 6-2.

Boulter tested the world number 6 with a fighting performance, but Gauff managed to secure a tight first set before securing victory in the second set and winning comfortably.

Gauff will now face either four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka or her American compatriot Katie Volynets in the round of 16.

Boulter defeated Taylor Townsend to set up a meeting with former US Open champion Gauff and there was little to separate the two in the early stages, but after breaking Boulter's serve in the sixth game, Gauff started to come out on top to have.

However, the British No. 1 fought back and some solid serves helped her claw back from 5-2 down to 5-5 before Gauff finally took the first set with her third set point in the 12th game.

Gauff had a bright start to the second set, beating Boulter in the fourth game to take the lead before securing victory on her second match point.

Third Jessica Pegula reacted to the defeat in the first marathon set and won a 6:7 (9:11), 6:1, 6:2 victory over Veronika Kudermetova in the third round.

Pegula has won 17 of her last 19 matches, including defending her title in Toronto and reaching the finals in Cincinnati and the US Open. Her only loss came against Aryna Sabalenka, the top seed in Beijing.

“Every time I played against them it was really tough,” Pegula said. “After coming back from 2-5 in the first set, I kind of knew what to do, I just had to execute on it in the next few sets. I'm glad I was able to sort of figure this out and finally help myself.” Head-to-head against her.

The American managed three service breaks in the first set but also lost three of her own, with Kudermetova prevailing in a stunning 20-point tiebreak to take the lead.

The lost tie-break seemed to give Pegula new life as she found her groundstroke range to break her Russian opponent's serve twice in each set, winning the match in just over two and a half hours. It was Pegula's first win against 39th-ranked Kudermetova in three attempts.

Pegula will play number 15 Paola Badosa in the fourth round after the Spaniard defeated Serbian Rebecca Sramkova 7:5 and 7:5.

What's coming up on Sky Sports Tennis in October?

• Shanghai Masters – ATP 1000 (October 2-13 – Jack Draper in action)
• Wuhan Open – WTA 1000 (October 6-12 – Emma Raducanu in action)
• Almaty Open, Kazakhstan – ATP 250 (October 14-20)
• Stockholm Open, Sweden – ATP 250 (October 14-20)
• European Open, Antwerp – ATP 250 (October 14-20)
• Japan Open, Osaka – WTA 250 (October 14-20)
• Ningbo Open, China – WTA 500 (October 14-20)
• Erste Bank Open, Vienna – ATP 500 (October 21-27)
• Swiss Indoors, Basel – ATP 500 (October 21-27)
• Guangzhou Open, China – WTA 250 (October 21-27)
• Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis, Tokyo – WTA 500 (October 21-27)

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