Jessica Pegula matches decade-old WTA milestone with Dubai semifinal run

Jessica Pegula has moved into the semi-finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships after coming through a tough three-setter against Clara Tauson.

The American, seeded fourth at the WTA 1000 event, got past Tauson 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 to earn her place in the last four.

Pegula had dropped just one set all tournament before facing Tauson, having come through comfortable wins over Varvara Gracheva and teenager Iva Jovic without much trouble.

Her run in Dubai adds another semi-final to what’s already been a strong season. She’d already made it that far this year at both the Brisbane International and the Australian Open.

Pegula’s semi-final streak extends even further back than this season. It stretches across two seasons now, giving her a mark that neither Aryna Sabalenka nor Iga Swiatek can claim. Here’s how it compares:

Jessica Pegula makes it seven straight WTA semifinals

According to Opta Ace, the world number five has now reached seven straight semifinals on the WTA Tour, something no one had done since Agnieszka Radwanska back in 2016.

Pegula reached the semifinals of the 2025 US Open, where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka, who went on to win the title.

Since then, Pegula has advanced past the quarterfinals at every tournament she’s appeared in. During that stretch, she even made it all the way to the final of the Wuhan Open.

She hasn’t managed to win any of those seven tournaments yet, though her closest came with a runner-up finish in Wuhan.

Pegula shares how she balances the demands of singles and doubles

In five of her last seven tournaments, Pegula has competed in both singles and either doubles or mixed doubles.

During her press conference after the match, Pegula joked about how she manages it all: “I don’t know. People just ask me to do things, and I tend to say yes to everything. I don’t really say no very often.”

She then gave a bit more insight: “But no, I think in a sense, though, I’m pretty laid back. I don’t get overly stressed very easily.

“I think because I’m able to manage a lot of things naturally, maybe with my personality, that it doesn’t quite worry me and stress me out.

“But I don’t really think this role will be changing much more than what I already do. We already had some circuit structure councils in place previously over the last two years that I’ve been on. It just hasn’t been a priority.”

She continued: “I think now that’s really the only difference. Just having my name there as a top player will kind of help steer that… People just ask me to do things.”

Pegula reached the US Open singles final in 2024 and made it to a Grand Slam doubles final at the 2022 French Open alongside Coco Gauff.

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