NEW YORK (AP)—Flavia Pennetta staved off four set points to close her match against Peng Shuai and reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals.
The 26th-seeded Italian won 6-4, 7-6 (6) on Sunday. After failing to serve out the match, Pennetta was down 5-0 and 6-2 in the second-set tiebreaker and appeared to be struggling with the heat.
But she rallied to keep the match from going to a third set, as their meetings at the U.S. Open in 2007 and ’08 did.
The 13th-seeded Peng was in the fourth round of the U.S. Open for the first time. The Chinese player is 0-5 against Pennetta.
Pennetta upset third-seeded Maria Sharapova in the third round and next faces unseeded Angelique Kerber.