Jessica Pegula had plenty to say about her upcoming semifinal showdown against Mirra Andreeva at the 2026 WTA Finals. Pegula stirred controversy ahead of the prestigious year-end tournament after a hot mic recording of her criticizing Andreeva’s mentality went viral. However, both players have seemingly moved on from the controversy and are now set to face each other on the WTA Tour for the first time.
Speaking to Tennis Channel about her clash against Andreeva, scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 14, Pegula lauded the 19-year-old’s game. The American WTA veteran was particularly impressed with Andreeva’s dominant display against former No. 1 and four-time Major singles champion Aryna Sabalenka in the round-robin phase. Pegula said:
“Well, the storylines write themselves, don’t they? It’s the match people wanted to see. Well, now they’re going to get it. She’s played great. I watched her match against Sabalenka. She’s such an efficient player. She’s fast. She has a great serve. She’s strong and hits the ball pretty hard. And she’s smart. You could see how efficient she made her tennis look against Sabalenka.”
She later touched on the “diva” controversy, adding:
“You know what? Maybe she turned me into a diva. Diva energy. She took it really well. She was like, ‘Yeah, people call me that all the time,’ like she didn’t even care. So it was funny; maybe I need a little of that.”
Jessica Pegula secured her place in the WTA Finals SF with a hard-fought win over Linda Noskova
Jessica Pegula was on the brink of being eliminated from the 2026 WTA Finals. However, the American showed remarkable grit to save a match point in her last round-robin phase outing against reigning Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova. Ultimately, Pegula won the match 7-6(2), 4-6, 7-5 to secure progress to the last four.
After the match, the 2023 WTA Finals runner-up briefly touched on her mentality that helped her turn the tables against Noskova. Pegula said:
“I just kept telling myself, ‘This could be your last match for the year, so go out and compete, and you can hold your head high for the rest of the year. But I definitely wanted another chance to still be here.”
The other semifinal will feature Noskova against the winner of the Sabalenka-Elina Svitolina round-robin stage encounter.
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Esta notícia foi originalmente publicada em: Fonte original