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Tennis News: American tennis player Jessica Pegula reached the WTA 1000-level tournament final for the third time in her career at the Canadian Open in Montreal in the 2023 season.

The fourth seed had to fight very hard before defeating world No. 1 Iga Swiatek 6-2, 6-7, 6-4 in the Canadian Open semi-final.

“It was an amazing match,” exclaimed Pegula. ” It was very difficult. Like a roller coaster. It was really ups and downs, but I’m relieved that I was able to handle the tension until the end.”

The American went 0-2 in the semi-finals of the tournament hosted in Canada before claiming a 2 hour 30 minute win over Polish international Swiatek where she trailed 2-4 in the deciding match. She had previously been lucky enough to win the match after leading 6-2, 5-4, 4/2 in the second-set tiebreaker before the top seed forced the decider.

After losing four times to the Polish national in 2022, the American is now 2-1 against the world No. 1 in 2024, having also beaten her in the United Cup earlier this season.

“Even though I was lucky to win the match at 5-4, I think she played an amazing match,” Pegula commented of Swiatek.

“Then in the third set I fell behind with a break. I was getting more and more frustrated, but at the same time I could tell she was struggling to hold her serve. It’s all determined by who is able to strengthen the break opportunity.

While Swiatek said, “He really stuck with me, so I had to change something. It worked well, but in the third set I didn’t really know what happened when I took the lead. I have to watch the game and analyze it because for sure he fought for every point and so did I. It was a tough match. »

Pegula will now try to become the first tennis player to win the Canadian Open since Serena Williams won it in the 2013 season. Before that, she must beat third seed Elena Rybakina or 15th seed Liudmila Samsonova whose match had to be postponed due to rain. .

Article Tags: Tennis, Canadian Open, Jessica Pegula, Iga Swiatek