Pegula quickly closed it out, firing a service winner on match point to reach Sunday’s championship match in the US Open tune-up. Jessica Pegula rallied from a break down in the final set to topple defending champion Iga Swiatek 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 on Saturday and reach the final of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters. World number three Pegula needed nearly three hours to dethrone Swiatek as the duo rode a rollercoaster of breaks and re-breaks before the 31-year-old American took a 5-4 lead in the final set after Swiatek saved three break points but double-faulted on a fourth.
Jessica Pegula rallied from a break down in the final set to topple defending champion Iga Swiatek 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 on Saturday and reach the final of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters.
I felt like we were playing well and then not playing well. “It was really tough to kind of get a gauge on the match. Pegula will face either unseeded Czech Sara Bejlek or fourth-ranked Coco Gauff in Sunday’s final. Swiatek and Pegula then waited out another rain delay before their match, which was also briefly interrupted two games in. They had exchanged two breaks in the second when Swiatek grabbed a lifeline and broke in the final game to square the match.
France’s Arthur Fils charged into the men’s final, dispatching French Open runner-up Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 6-4 in a match delayed for 45 minutes by rain and lightning. Swiatek blinked first as Pegula held at love for a 4-2 lead, but Swiatek won the next three games before Pegula broke again, finally taking the set when Swiatek smacked a volley into the net on set point.
“Crazy match today,” Pegula said. “A lot of back and forth, a lot of breaks,” Pegula said, “Really windy, kind of odd conditions.
