Emma Raducanu beaten in ‘crazy match’ as Brit squanders multiple match points against Jessica Pegula at China Open

Jessica Pegula beat Emma Raducanu 4-6 7-6(9) 6-0 in the China Open to progress to the fourth round at the expense of the British No. 1.

But she could not find a way to put away her opponent, three match points coming and going as Pegula found a way to take the second set.

And from there, Raducanu faded badly as she failed to win a game in the decider. Pegula labelled it a “crazy match” afterwards in her on-court interview.

Raducanu had looked the better of the two in the opening set, some big serves and accurate groundstrokes getting her higher-ranked opponent on the run.

But Pegula came up with some clutch backhands in that tie break to somehow stay in the match, including one scintillating winner down the line with Raducanu in at the net on match point.

“That was really intense, but I got myself back into the tie break, and just wanted to keep the pressure on,” Pegula explained.

“And when she hit the double fault, I knew I was still playing some good tennis, it was right there, it was really, really close.

“To be honest, I got a little lucky on two of those where I hit the two backhand winners, but other than that, I just tried to keep fighting as long as I could.”

While Pegula heads into a fourth round match-up with Marta Kostyuk, Raducanu will ponder a tough loss that mirrored one she suffered in Seoul earlier this month.

There, the Brit took the opening set 6-4 against former Wimbledon winner Barbora Krejcikova, but lost the second in a similar tie break, 10-12, having also passed up match points.

And once again she faded in the third set, only picking up one game.