Rybakina, Pegula dig deep to stay alive in Adelaide

ADELAIDE, Jan 10 (AFP): World number three Elena Rybakina and fifth-ranked Jessica Pegula ground out wins at the Adelaide International Wednesday to book their spots in the quarter-finals.

Coming off the back of crushing Aryna Sabalenka to lift the Brisbane International title on Sunday, top seed Rybakina had to battle hard to get past Spain's Cristina Busca 6-3, 7-5.

The Russian-born Kazakh, aiming for a deep run at the upcoming Australian Open, will face either Veronika Kudermetova or Ekaterina Alexandrova for a place in the semi-finals.

Pegula rallied from a slow start to overcome Bernarda Pera and set up a quarter-final against 2021 French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.