Jessica Pegula has opened up about the one factor that made her blockbuster semifinal clash against Iga Świątek particularly challenging at the Cincinnati Open. Despite the tough battle, the American emerged victorious against Świątek to book her spot in the final of the WTA 1000 event.
What Jessica Pegula Said After Beating Iga Świątek at the Cincinnati Open
After overcoming Amanda Anisimova in a closely contested encounter in the quarterfinals, Pegula faced another tough test in her semifinal showdown with defending champion Świątek, who was riding the momentum of her Canadian Open triumph.
Although Pegula edged the opening set, the six-time Grand Slam champion responded strongly by winning the second and forcing a decider. Świątek then raced to a 3-1 lead in the third set, only for the world No. 3 to mount an impressive comeback to claim a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 victory. Having snapped the Pole’s 10-match winning streak, Pegula booked her place in the Cincinnati Open final.
Appearing on the Tennis Channel after her hard-fought victory, Pegula reflected on how both she and Świątek struggled to hold serve in the tough encounter amid windy conditions, with the match featuring 13 breaks of serve in total.
“It’s tough and it sometimes that happens with those certain matches. It’s like sometimes you serve better when the other person’s serving better because you know you have to serve well,” Pegula said.
“Today I just felt like we both weren’t serving well and we were kind of feeding off of that energy. We just couldn’t find our timing and then obviously like I said, being good returners, it just made it so much harder,” she added.
The American revealed that she had to remind herself not to get frustrated and control her annoyance regarding the constant breaks, acknowledging that the repeated setbacks left her emotionally drained after the match.
“So sometimes there’s matches like that where you just see a lot of breaks back and forth and I just kept telling myself to not get too upset about it. It is a little emotionally draining. You can kind of get really annoyed with the fact that like I broke and now I can’t hold and you go through those through those emotions,” she said.
As she looks to capture her second WTA 1000 title of the season, Jessica Pegula will lock horns with the winner of the match between Coco Gauff and Sára Bejlek in the Cincinnati Open final.
Following the title clash, Pegula is set to travel to New York for the US Open, where she will team up with Taylor Fritz for the star-studded mixed doubles event before her singles campaign.
