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Pegula dispatches Paolini to keep WTA Finals semis bid alive / Photo: Fayez NURELDINE - AFP
Pegula dispatches Paolini to keep WTA Finals semis bid alive
American Jessica Pegula kept her chances of reaching the semi-finals of the WTA Finals alive by easing past Italy's Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-3 in Riyadh on Thursday.
The world number five had to avoid a straight-sets loss to maintain her shot at advancing from the group stage, but must now await the result of the later showdown between Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka to learn her fate in the tournament.
Action in the Stefanie Graf Group has come down to the wire with three of the four players all in with a chance of moving on to Friday's semi-finals.
Pegula improved to 4-1 head-to-head against eighth seed Paolini, and avenged her recent defeat to the Italian in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Shenzhen.
"Today I finally got a straight-set win for the first time in like a few months. I served very, very well and was very aggressive. There weren't any negative notes today," said the 31-year-old Pegula.
Elena Rybakina and Amanda Anisimova have already punched their tickets to the final four by finishing in the top two spots of the Serena Williams Group.
N.Mahnke--BlnAP
