Jessica Pegula worked a tick over an hour to advance to the third round of the U.S. Open on Wednesday with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Russia’s Anna Blinkova.

Pegula, the runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka at last year’s Open, had 30 winners and no double-faults and is set for a match against three-time runner-up and two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus on Friday.

Pegula has dropped only eight total games in her two matches. She has now posted wins in the first two rounds for the sixth consecutive U.S. Open.

Pegula and Azarenka each have three wins in their six career matches.

Pegula saved four match points in a third-set tiebreaker to defeat Azarenka at the Charleston Open in 2024. Azarenka claimed their 2023 match in the Australian Open quarterfinals.

A former World No. 1, the 36-year-old Azarenka fell behind Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova before taking advantage of 25 unforced errors for a 6-3, 6-3 victory.

“She started really strong, I had to find my feet and get my intensity up and start making more first balls and dictating more,” Azarenka said. “But after a few games, I started to find my form a little bit.”

Emma Raducanu, the U.S. Open champion as a qualifier four years ago, rode a dominant first serve to an easy win. She needed precisely 60 minutes for a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Indonesian qualifier Janice Tjen. Raducanu, the British No. 1 player, has only dropped six games through two matches in the 2025 U.S. Open.

“I’m very pleased with how I played today in the second round. After two days it kind of breaks the rhythm a little bit,” Raducanu said.

No. 10 seed Emma Navarro won a matchup of Americans, defeating Caty McNally 6-2, 6-1. She’ll face the Czech Republic’s Barbara Krejcikova, who began her tournament with an upset of No. 22 seed Victoria Mboko of Canada, in the third round.

–Field Level Media