Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula reach fourth round in rainy Beijing

Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula booked their spots in the fourth round of the China Open for the first time with a pair of contrasting wins on Sunday at the WTA 1000 event.

No. 2 seed Pegula defeated Veronika Kudermetova for the first time in three career meetings, 6-7(9), 6-1, 6-2, to reach the fourth round for the first time, while fourth seed Gauff won eight of the last 10 games to beat No. 26 seed Katie Boulter 7-5, 6-2 to reach the last 16 for the second year in a row.

First-set leads of 5-2 were erased in both matches, though the players who held them eventually won the sets anyway. Pegula had two set points in the tiebreak before Kudermetova eventually converted on her fifth, but the American broke serve twice in both the second and third sets to come away with victory after two hours and 39 minutes. She never lost her own in sets two or three, either.

"Every time I've played her, it's always been really tough," Pegula said after the match. "After I came back from 2-5 in the first set, I kind of knew what to do, I just had to execute in the next couple sets. I'm happy I was able to kind of figure that out and finally help my head-to-head against her."

Just nine singles matches were completed at the joint ATP and WTA China Open on Sunday, as outer court matches were postponed due to rain.

Other players to advance were former world No. 2 Paula Badosa, who ended the nine-match winning streak of recent Hua Hin champion Rebecca Sramkova; China's Zhang Shuai, who picked up her third win of the week after losing her previous 24 matches against Greet Minnen; Ukrainian qualifier Yuliia Starodubtseva, who is through to the fourth round in her WTA 1000 main-draw debut; and No. 23 seed Magdalena Frech, the recent Guadalajara champion, who won a seventh straight match with a 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 comeback against No. 12 seed Diana Shnaider.

American Peyton Stearns was leading No. 10 seed Anna Kalinskaya by a set 6-3, 2-3, when that match was halted.

In the men's event, No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz scored the 200th victory of his career with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Tallon Griekspoor, and No. 7 seed Karen Khachanov also advanced by beating Francisco Cerundolo in two tiebreaks. But wild card Bu Yunchaokete upset No. 6 seed Lorenzo Musetti, 6-2, 6-4.