Aryna Sabalenka lost another deciding set without winning a game as an impressive Jessica Pegula beat the world number one to reach the Berlin Open final.
Belarusian Sabalenka never looked settled against Pegula, who recovered from losing a tight second set to come through 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-0.
American Pegula had lost five of her past six matches against Sabalenka but her flat shots and superb return of serve anchored her performance this time around.
For Sabalenka it is another disappointing deciding-set performance, having lost the third set of her French Open quarter-final 6-0 after squandering a set and double break lead.
Pegula had fought back from 5-2 down in the second set to force a tie-break and led 3-1 before rain delayed play for an hour.
When they returned, Sabalenka won six of the next seven points to force a deciding set – only for Pegula to dominate the top seed.
“She came out and ripped a bunch of winners and I told myself ‘I guess I wanted to win in the hard way anyway’,” Pegula, 32, said.
“I don’t get super emotional. People used to tell me when I was younger that I need to yell more and jump up and down.
“Honestly, it feels like a waste of energy to me. I just try to be myself.”
Pegula will face either Czech Linda Noskova or Alexandra Eala of the Philippines in Sunday’s final.
While she was not as error-strewn as Paris, Sabalenka once again could not stop the match running away from her.
She finished with 41 unforced errors to Pegula’s 25, while nine double faults and a first-serve percentage of 62% did not help her.
She will be among the favourites at Wimbledon, which begins on 29 June – but she has still only beaten a top-10 player once in five attempts on a grass court.
Elsewhere, Emma Navarro continued her recent good form to reach the Nottingham Open final against Marie Bouzkova.
American Navarro was inside the world’s top 10 in 2024 but lost nine of her first 13 matches this year.
After taking a break for health struggles, Navarro won the Strasbourg Open in May and is now into a second final of the season, having beaten Swiss Viktorija Golubic 7-6 (7-5) 6-2.
Czech Bouzkova beat compatriot and former world number one Karolina Pliskova 6-4 6-1 to reach her first grass-court singles final.
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