Jessica Pegula handed Karolina Pliskova a second hefty defeat in as many weeks as she knocked out the sixth-ranked Czech 6-0, 6-2 to march into the Dubai quarter-finals on Wednesday. The American world No 36, who enjoyed a breakthrough run to the quarters at the Australian Open last month, needed a mere 53 minutes to send Pliskova packing in even more dominating fashion than the straight-sets drubbing she gave her last week in Doha. Pegula has now won 13 of her last 15 matches on tour and is through to the quarter-finals at a WTA 1000-level tournament for the second time in her career. 

"This is definitely the best of any other year I've had (on tour)," said the 26-year-old. She added: "I'm just really happy I'm able to do it, especially in a time where, with the pandemic it's been really hard to know what's going to happen in the future, so I think also in a way maybe it helped me mentally not to take each match for granted." A Pliskova double fault handed Pegula an early break of serve and the American did not blink en route to a 20-minute 6-0 lead. Pliskova started the second set on better footing, breaking serve in the opening game, but Pegula pegged her back and stormed to victory when her second-seeded opponent struck her seventh double fault of the match. "Of course my tennis was not there but I think she has a lot to do with it," said Pliskova.