Pegula overpowers Tsurenko to reach her first quarter-final at Wimbledon

Fourth seed Jessica Pegula continued her discreet sweep through the ladies single's draw on Sunday with a 6-1, 6-3 win over the veteran Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko.

Fourth seed Jessica Pegula swept past Lesia Tsurenko to advance to the last eight at Wimbledon for the first time. AP - Alastair Grant

Pegula took the 34-year-old's opening service game and surged into a 3-0 lead in 12 minutes. A few minutes later she was 5-0 up courtesy of some clean service return winners and Tsurenko's inability to cope with the depth and power of her shots.

The world number 60 at least got on the board before Pegula wrapped up the opening set in 29 minutes.

Pegula, playing in the last-16 for the first time at Wimbledon, broke at the start of the second set and confirmed the break for 2-0 with a slick forehand volley on game point.

A double fault offered her another break to lead 4-1 and she ploughed on to 5-1.

Chance

Serving to stay in the encounter after 52 minutes, Tsurenko, also a fourth round debutante, held onto her service to force Pegula into serving for her place in the quarters.

The 29-year-old American fluffed her lines allowing Tsurenko to dominate the rallies and to cut the deficit to 5-3.

But Pegula made amends immediately by taking Tsurenko's serve to claim the encounter 6-1, 6-3.

"It was tough there at the end," Pegula told the on-court interviewer. "But I came out playing really well, exactly how I wanted to play and I rode that momentum as well as I could."

Pegula will play the unseeded Czech Marketa Vondrousova after she saw off her comaptriot Marie Bouzkova 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in two hours and 11 minutes to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.

Return

The 24-year-old has struggled with a succession of injuries over the last six months but showed patience and initiative to oust the 32nd seed.

"You never know what to expect when you're coming back from the injuries," said Vondrousova. "I think my game wasn't so bad after the injuries. So I've  just stayed focused and I've practiced as much as I could. I just believed that I could be on this level again."

Elsewhere in the women's draw, 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva beat the 22nd seed Anastasia Potopova 6-2, 7-5 to reach the last-16 at one of the four Grand Slam tournaments for the first time in her fledgling career.

Andreeva advanced to the third round at the French Open in Paris after going through the qualifying competition. "Of course, I'm really happy with my win. It was tough match but I'm happy that I managed to win it. There were a lot of long rallies."

In the men's draw, the 21st seed Grigor Dimitrov beat the 10th seed Frances Tiafoe to move into the fourth round. The 32-year-old Bulgarian won 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 to move into the last-16 where he will play the sixth seed Holger Rune.