Coco Gauff, Taylor Fritz advance at BNP Paribas Open; Jessica Pegula loses

Coco Gauff rallied from a break in the third set to beat Swedish qualifier Rebecca Peterson 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 on Tuesday to reach the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open.

Down 2-4, Gauff fought his way back and saved three break points while serving at 4-4 before closing out the match in the next game.

Four years ago, Peterson defeated Gauff, then 14, in a Challenger tournament in Michigan.

“She hit me really bad,” Gauff said on the court. “I think today was really a mental thing, just staying in the game. I wasn’t playing my best at times and I wasn’t serving as well as I would like, but I think my mentality kept me in.”

The sixth-seeded American will next face No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka, who defeated No.16 seed Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

No.3 Jessica Pegula lost to 15th seed Petra Kvitova 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(11) after the American wasted four match points.

“When the match is like that, very exhausting,” Kvitova said. “Up and down. It’s definitely one of the best games I’ve ever played.”

Sorana Cirstea eliminated No. 5 Caroline Garcia 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, No. 7 Maria Sakkari defeated 17th seed Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 and No. 10 Elena Rybakina defeated Varvara Gracheva 6-3, 6-0.

On the men’s side, defending champion Taylor Fritz moved into the quarters with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Marton Fucsovics.

No. 5 Daniil Medvedev overcame inflammation in his right ankle and outpointed 12th seed Alexander Zverev 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-5.

“When I sprained my ankle, I sprained it pretty hard,” he said. “The moment I rolled it, I thought, ‘Okay, I’m going to stand up and it’s going to be okay,’ but then I kept staying on the ground because the pain was only increasing. It was definitely a crazy match.”

Medvedev took a medical timeout to have his ankle wrapped in the second set before earning his 17th straight win and improving to 22-2 this year.

“This was definitely the hardest of all,” he said on the court.

Zverev added to the drama by saving match point and breaking for 5-5 in the final set. Medvedev broke back and won.

He now plays Spaniard Alejandro Davidovch Fokina, who beat Cristian Garin 6-3, 6-4.

No. 10 Cameron Norrie, the 2021 champion, defeated sixth seed Andrey Rublev, 6-2, 6-4. Norrie improved to 21-3 this year.

Norrie advanced to the quarterfinals against Frances Tiafoe, who defeated qualifier Alejandro Tabilo, 6-4, 6-4.