Getting back to basics: Jessica Pegula defeats Emma Navarro for Miami quarterfinal berth

Tennis fans are used to seeing millionaires play each other. But the third-round match between Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro in Miami on Monday may have been the first to take it three zeroes farther. Both women are the daughters of sports-loving billionaires: Pegula’s father, Terry, owns the Buffalo Bills; Navarro’s father, Ben, recently bought the tournaments in Charleston and Cincinnati.

That’s not all they have in common. Pegula, 30, and Navarro, 22, are conspicuous for their laid-back personalities and lack of drama—as well as their love of ear piercings. They each seem quietly determined (a) not to be seen as entitled, and (b) to make a name for herself that has nothing to do with her dad. The result, tennis-wise, is that they both make the most of their natural talents and physical gifts.

As we could see from their first meeting, they do it in the same way, too: With a consistency from the baseline that can appear machine-like at times—in a good way. Pegula hits hard, heavy, flat, and somehow high-percentage at the same time. Navarro, smaller and quicker, has a greater variety of shots and spins and a better set of hands, yet steadiness may be her biggest strength as well. Their match was filled with fast-paced rallies, with both women hitting with depth and taking the ball on the rise.

Where they differ is their strengths: For Pegula, it’s the backhand, especially down the line; for Navarro, it’s her whippy topspin forehand, which she can take to either corner. The player who used her strength more was probably going to be the winner. For the first five games, that was Navarro. She broke Pegula with a brilliantly devised drop shot-passing shot combination, and went up 4-1.

From there, Pegula took over. She started to lean in on her backhand, and force her way forward in the court. The pace and pressure wore on Navarro, especially in the first-set tiebreaker; she finished it with three straight errors into the net.

Navarro bounced back well enough to generate chances in the second set, but not well enough to take advantage of them. She had six break points, but couldn’t convert any of them. Credit Pegula’s serve, and that down-the-line backhand, for keeping her from falling behind, and with getting her through a final game where she squandered three match points before winning it on her fourth.

“What I did best is what I do best,” Pegula told on-court interviewer Blair Henley after her 7-6 (1), 6-3 win. “I hit pretty hard and flat and when I get my chances I try to change directions and I try to move in.”

Pegula was happy with how she “fought her way out” of those second-set service games, even though she wasn’t all that happy with the serve itself. It’s a shot that she and her new coaching team, “The Marks”—Knowles and Merklein—have been working on.

“I was not happy with today,” Pegula said with a smile of her serve. “I actually came up with some big serves at the end, so I can’t knock that.”

“I think I’m trying to add a little bit of pace, get some more action on my serve…It’s been a process, but this week has been the first week where it’s felt much better in the last month or so.”

Is this the week where Pegula’s new process begins to pay off? She was 5-4 on the season coning into Miami, and she has talked about having to adjust to new voices after five years with her former coach, David Witt.

“Being with David for so long, you get comfortable with someone,” she told Tennis Channel. “I like the change, talking to different people, hearing what they have to say.”

“It’s nice to feel like you’re not stuck with one person.”

The serve aside, Pegula says she’s not trying to reinvent her game. If anything, the emphasis so far has been on getting back to basics, and putting her strengths to the best use possible.

Mission accomplished on this night.