MADISON Brengle has caused the upset of the Newport Beach Challenger event so far in the WTA event, downing number one seed, Jessica Pegula in three sets, while Mitchell Krueger continued his run after downing two-time winner Taylor Fritz with a three sets win over Raymond Sarmiento.

Women’s:

The 95th ranked and fifth seed, Brengle came back from a 1-6 deficit to post a 1-6 7-6 6-2 victory over Pegula showing a fighting spirit in the quarter final clash. It could very easily have been a straight sets win to the number one seed, having been a set up and going toe-for-toe in the second set before Brengle won the tiebreaker, 9-7. In the match, Pegula was stronger off her first serve (66 per cent to 56.5 per cent), Brengle was able to save seven break points to three, and while she was broken an extra time (six to five), most of the damage was done in the first set. She won 65 per cent of her second serve points and really attack the number one seed’s slower serves. Brengle now faces Argentinian giant-killer Nadia Podoroska who defeated fourth seed German, Tatjana Maria in the semi-finals.

Another player who came from a 1-6 deficit to post a three sets win was second seed, Taylor Townsend who overcame fellow American, Coco Vandeweghe 1-6 6-1 6-1 to book a spot in the final four. The match just took 79 minutes because all three sets were rather swift, but it was Townsend who really stepped up after a disappointing first set to only drop two more games for the match. The number two seed put in 62.7 per cent of her first serve, winning 65.6 and 63.2 per cent of her first and second serve points, breaking six times to three. Vandeweghe competed well early, but faded out and only won 34.1 per cent of her second serve with a 46.8 per cent serving efficiency to begin with. Townsend meets sixth seed, Stefanie Voegele who knocked off third seed, Christina McHale in three sets.

[5] M. Brengle (USA) defeated [1] J. Pegula (USA) 1-6 7-6 6-2
N. Podoroska (ARG) defeated [4] T. Maria (GER) 2-6 6-1 6-1
[6] S. Voegele (SUI) defeated [3] C. McHale (USA) 6-1 1-6 6-4
[2] T. Townsend (USA) defeated C. Vandeweghe (USA) 1-6 6-1 6-1

Men’s:

It took him more than two hours to finally post the win, but Krueger booked a spot in the semi-finals thanks to a 6-3 6-7 6-3 victory over Sarmiento. Krueger served nine aces and won 65 and 56 per cent of his first and second serve points respectively, compared to his compatriot’s 59 and 42 per cent. While Sarmiento made more of his break point opportunities, Krueger created more chances, and was more dominant on both service and return, helping him advance to the final four as the second highest ranked player remaining.

Krueger now faces Colombian, Daniel Elahi Galan who came from a set down to win against American emerging talent, Christopher Eubanks. Galan dropped the first set 4-6 before coming back to win in a tight tiebreaker, 7-5 and taking out the match 4-6 7-6 6-3 in two hours and three minutes. Both players served up six aces, but it was Galan’s ability to save 11 break points to ensure he remained in the game, whilst capitalising on three himself. He won 69 and 57 per cent of his first and second serve points respectively, and while he will want to clean up the first serve percentage (56 per cent), did enough to reach the semi-finals.

In the other results, Steve Johnson booked a spot in the last four and is the tournament favourite after defeating 10th seed and fellow American, Bradley Klahn in straight sets. He now faces another American in Thai-Son Kwiatkowski who saw off Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin.

[13] M. Krueger (USA) defeated R. Sarmiento (USA) 6-3 6-7 6-3
D. Galan (COL) C. Eubanks (USA) 4-6 7-6 6-3
[4] S. Johnson (USA) defeated [10] B. Klahn (USA) 6-4 6-2
T. Kwiatkowski (USA) defeated [15] D. Istomin (UZB) 7-6 6-4