Jessica Pegula needed to beat Linda Noskova to advance from her round-robin group at the WTA Finals.
Pegula beat Noskova 7-6(2), 4-6, 7-5, with the American saving a match point to beat the Wimbledon champion.
This win enabled the 32-year-old to overtake Coco Gauff and advance to the semi-finals in Indian Wells, where Pegula will play Mirra Andreeva, in a first-time meeting between the two players.
As well as Pegula reaching the WTA Finals semi-finals, she also produced a personal record in her victory over Noskova.
Jessica Pegula comments on breaking her ace record at the WTA Finals
Pegula hit 16 aces in her win over Noskova, which is more than she has ever hit before on the WTA Tour, surpassing her previous record of 11 aces, which she achieved at Indian Wells earlier this year.
This was quite a contrast from Noskova, who hit 15 double faults against Pegula.
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Jessica Pegula’s serve vs Linda Noskova |
|
|
Aces |
16 |
|
Double faults |
8 |
|
First serve % |
60% |
|
First serve win % |
66% |
|
Second serve win % |
43% |
|
Games broken |
5 |
When speaking about her serve to Tennis Channel after the match, Pegula admitted that there were still areas of her serve that she was not so happy with, despite the number of aces she hit.
“It [the serve] wasn’t feeling that great the first few days here but I think it was feeling better the last couple of days in practice,” said Pegula. “I think I just went out and trusted it. But they were still up and down.
“At times I don’t think either of us were serving that great. Our first serve percentage was pretty low in the second set, mine dropped quite a bit and I felt like that got her back into the match. She was getting way more looks on my second serve and took her chances to be really aggressive.
“I think that got her into a really good rhythm going into the third set. I think that was something that, even with a good serving day, I felt like I could have served more strategically at certain scorelines but I think I served great in the third, especially the last couple of games to get me out of trouble.”
What happened the last two times Jessica Pegula played in the semi-finals of the WTA Finals?
Pegula has now progressed to the semi-finals of the WTA Finals for the third time in her career, having also done so in 2023 and 2025.
The American has had differing experiences in her two semi-finals, with Pegula emphatically winning her match against Gauff at the 2023 WTA Finals in Cancun, before suffering a heavy defeat in the final to Iga Swiatek.
Pegula returned to the semi-finals two years later in Riyadh, where she was beaten by eventual champion Elena Rybakina, despite winning the first set of their match.
She will now hope to repeat her result from the 2023 WTA Finals, as Pegula faces Andreeva for the first time in her career. Pegula and Andreeva have already been involved in drama prior to this match, after the former was overheard calling the Russian teenager a ‘diva’, but there appears to be no hard feelings between the two players.
Pegula and Andreeva will play against each other for a place in the final of the WTA Finals on Saturday, November 14.
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Esta notĂcia foi originalmente publicada em: Fonte original