Jessica Pegula continues her late-season performance at the China Open

BEIJING (AP) — Third-seeded Jessica Pegula responded to a marathon first set loss to claim a 6-7 (9), 6-1, 6-2 win over Veronika Kudermetova in the third round of the China Open on Sunday.

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, where her only losses came to top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in Beijing.

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.

Losing the tiebreaker seemed to bring Pegula to 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 face 15th seed Paola Badosa in the fourth round after the Spaniard defeated Serbia's Rebecca Sramkova 7-5, 7-5.

Polish 23rd seed Magdalena Frech overcame a disastrous start to claim a three-set victory over 12th seed Diana Shnaider 0-6, 6-3, 6-4. She next faces 595th-ranked wildcard Zhang Shuai, who defeated Greet Minnen of Belgium 6-2, 6-3.

Ranking No. 6 Coco Gauff played Katie Boulter of Great Britain and four-time major winner Naomi Osaka faced Katie Volynets later on Sunday.

In the men's draw, local hero Bu Yunchaokete defeated Paris Olympics bronze medalist Lorenzo Musetti 6-2, 6-4, giving the 22-year-old his first win against a top-20 player.

The 96th-ranked Bu will next face either fifth seed Andrey Rublev or Alejando Davidovich Fokina.

Seveth seed Karen Khacharov made 15 fewer winners and four more unforced errors than Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo, but found a way to take the big points with a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (9) win, the brought him to the quarterfinals.

He will next face either third-seeded Carlos Alcaraz or Tallon Greikspoor, who played in a night game later on Sunday.

Alcaraz needs to reach at least the semifinals this week to move above Alexander Zverev to No. 2 in the rankings. Zverev is not playing in Beijing as he is recovering from an illness.

Japan Open

Tomas Machac became the first man to reach the semifinals in Tokyo with a 7-6 (2), 6-3 victory over American qualifier Alex Michelsen.

The 34th-ranked Machac had eight aces and broke Michelsen's serve twice as he advanced within 95 minutes.

Machac will play Ugo Humbert in the semi-final after the Frenchman won by walkover against Britain's Jack Draper.

Humbert was leading Draper 7-5, 2-1 when the US Open semifinalist forfeited the match because he could not continue.

In other quarterfinal games on Sunday, home favorite Kei Nishikori played sixth seed Holger Rune of Denmark, and defending champion Ben Shelton faced Arthur Fils of France, who defeated top seed Taylor Fitz in the opening round.

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AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis