Jabeur beats Pegula in Chicago

Ons Jabeur was hardly thrilled about needing to wake up at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday ahead of her 9 a.m. match and got off to a slow start before reaching the Chicago Fall Tennis Classic quarterfinals by coming back to beat Jessica Pegula 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.

The sixth-seeded Jabeur advanced to face No. 1 seed Elina Svitolina or Elena-Gabriela Ruse.

"Last time I woke up at 5:30 was probably for preseason (training) or to take a flight, not to play a match," said Jabeur, a 27-year-old Tunisian who is ranked a careerbest No. 16 this week.

Her 42 tour wins in 2021 are second only to No. 2-ranked Aryna Sabalenka's 43.

Other seeded women reaching the quarterfinals with wins at the hard-court tournament Thursday included No. 5 Elena Rybakina and No. 10 Danielle Collins.

Rybakina beat No. 12 Veronika Kudermetova 7-6 (4), 7-5, and

Collins defeated No. 7 Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-4. Mertens had her upper left leg wrapped by a trainer after taking a medical timeout early in the second set.

Jabeur entered Thursday's match with a 0-2 career record against the ninth-seeded Pegula. That included a loss at Montreal in August when Jabeur served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, got broken and ended up losing in three.

That match was on Jabeur's mind this time, including when she served for the victory at 5-3 in the third set. She went up 40-love but got too defensive, Jabeur acknowledged afterward, and the first three match points disappeared, two on forehand winners by Pegula.

Jabeur then needed to save a pair of break points before closing things out with an ace and a service winner to reach her sixth quarterfinal of the season, including at Wimbledon in July.