Jessica Pegula will face her compatriot Coco Gauff in the final of the WTA 1000 in Wuhan, China, after coming from behind to beat Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2), while the world number three defeated Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in straight sets in the other semi-final.
The hard-court tournament favorite, who is enjoying the best moment of her career, could not keep up with Pegula in the final stretch, and despite saving two match points and taking the match to a tiebreak, she fell short of the final.The first set was irregular for both players, but even more so for Pegula, who dropped her serve four times against a Sabalenka who did not miss a single one.
The American reacted in the second set and overpowered her opponent, improving her serving percentages, especially with the second. However, with a 5-2 lead in the deciding set, what would be a nail-biting end to the match began.
Sabalenka was ahead, and serving for the win at 5-3, but Pegula turned the tables and went 6-5 with serve. The Belarusian saved two match points, forced four break points and on the fourth she got it. The tie-break went to the American in a landslide (7-2), but the match was a great memory for the Chinese crowd.
The head-to-head record between the two remains in favor of the Belarusian, who dominates 8-3, as well as having won the five most recent duels, including three finals, in Miami this year and in the US Open and Cincinnati last year.
The balance between Gauff and Paolini is more evenly matched (3-3) after the victory of the two-time Grand Slam champion in Wuhan. It was a 6-4, 6-3 win full of twists, breaks and errors, but one in which she handled better than the Italian. There were as many as five consecutive breaks in the first set, specifically from 3-2 with Gauff in the lead, which triggered great dissatisfaction on both sides of the court.
A script that was prolonged, and even went to the next level, in the second set, with up to seven service losses (three for Gauff and four for Paolini) for a total of 12 in 19 games that the match had.
The American reached the final after defeating the two-time reigning Billie Jean King Cup champion, who also caused a major upset by sweeping aside Poland’s Iga Swiatek, the second favorite, 6-1, 6-2, and Germany’s Laura Siegemund, ranked 57th in the world, 6-3, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.
Pegula and Gauff have faced each other six times, with a 4-2 record in favor of the former.
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