Jessica Pegula achieves rare American feat with Cincy final appearance and she could eclipse Serena Williams
Jessica Pegula has become only the third American woman to notch up a rare Canadian Open-Cincinnati Open achievement after beating Paula Badosa in the semi-final of Cincy event.
Just days after becoming only the seventh woman to successfully defend her Canadian Open title in the Open Era, Pegula has taken her unbeaten run in WTA 1000 events to nine matches after reaching the final in Ohio.
With the victory, she became the first American woman since Serena Williams in 2013 to reach both the WTA 1000 North American hard-court finals.
Williams and Rosie Casals (1970) are the only Americans to have reached the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open showpiece matches in the same year.
And Pegula has the chance to go one better than both Williams and Casals as neither of them won both titles in the same year.
Casals finished runner-up to Margaret Court in the 1970 Canadian Open final and then went on to win the Cincinnati final with victory over Nancy Richey Gunter.
Forty-three years later Williams also reached both finals and she defeated Sorana Cirstea in the Canada final before losing the Cincy showpiece match against Victoria Azarenka.
“I did not think I would be in a group with those names, but I’m so happy right now,” Pegula said after the match. “I’ve been playing well, competing well and it’s paying off.”
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Jessica Pegula becomes first woman in 24 years to achieve feat that eluded Serena Williams
Pegula will take on world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka in Monday’s final and if she does end up lifting the trophy, she will become the first woman since 1973 to win the Canada-Cincinnati double when Evonne Goolagong achieved the feat.
The 30-year-old was forced to play two matches on Saturday as she Taylor Townsend in straight sets in the third round and then went the distance against Leylah Fernandez in the quarter-final, coming away with a hard-fought 7-5, 6-7 (1-7), 7-6 (7-3) win.
She was also made to work hard for the win by Badosa as she eventually notched up a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
“It’s been nice to also see my mental toughness over the span of a lot of matches,” Pegula said. “Being able to draw it out over multiple weeks has been really a cool thing that I can say that I’ve been able to do, and I think also gives me extra confidence.”
Sabalenka claimed her first straight-set win over world No 1 Iga Swiatek as she won 6-3, 6-3 to reach the final.