American Jessica Pegula still finds it “strange” to be the number three player in the world, but she doesn’t feel much pressure to match the rankings.
The American said her ability to separate helps her focus on each match, just as it helps her take it step by step in that comeback win she needed on Sunday to reach the fourth round of the WTA Unified Tournament. and ATP Masters 1000 in Indian Wells. court tournament.
“It was definitely a battle today,” Pegula said after beating Anastasia Potapova 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, who won the WTA trophy in Linz last month.
“I just felt like I started off a little slow,” Pegula said. “She had some confidence, obviously she did a lot of her shots. She also just won the tournament.
“So I’m just glad that I was able to come back to the match and ended up playing much better than at the beginning.”
This was the second match in a row in which Pegula had to win a set.
While she had to put in a concentrated effort to fire herself up in the cold night conditions against Camila Giorgi, Pegula said that against Potapova she was just trying to stick to her game plan.
“I was just trying to stay calm and focus on what I was trying to do, especially my serve plays,” she said. “I felt like I could break her. I was going to get chances.”
Pegula, whose two WTA titles include Guadalajara last year, has reached the quarterfinals of four of the last five Grand Slams but has yet to make it to the final four majors.
She said that being among the best players in the world may have increased the pressure “in the beginning”, but it didn’t change her approach.
“I’m good at thinking about one game at a time. I think it helped when I didn’t feel too much pressure to get into the top five,” she said.
“This is weird. It’s strange to think that there are three of me in the world. I don’t even like to say it. I think it’s good”.
bb/js
Source: sports.yahoo.com
