Jessica Pegula beat Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-0 to reach the Berlin Open final. Pegula will face Linda Noskova on Sunday after ending Sabalenka’s run in Berlin with a third-set shutout.
“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.” Pegula said after the match, and she backed that up with a calm finish after a match that swung hard in the second set.
Berlin Open final spot
Sabalenka was the world number one, but she lost another deciding set without winning a game. That is the part of the scoreline that lingers most: after forcing a third set, she could not take even one game from Pegula when it mattered most.
The American had already taken a step back from the brink before that. She trailed 5-2 in the second set, then led 3-1 in the tie-break before rain stopped play for an hour.
When the match restarted, Sabalenka won six of the next seven points to level the contest, but that burst only delayed the outcome. Pegula steadied after the interruption and shut the door in the decider.
Pegula's return bite
Pegula had lost five of her past six matches against Sabalenka before this one, and Sabalenka had won two of their past three meetings. The matchup did not follow that recent pattern once the second set tightened; Pegula kept the ball on a flatter path and made Sabalenka play extra shots under pressure, especially after the delay.
She finished with 25 unforced errors, compared with Sabalenka’s 41. Sabalenka also made nine double faults and landed 62% of her first serves, numbers that made the margin in the deciding set even harder to recover from.
That split also fits Sabalenka’s grass-court record. She has only beaten a top-10 player once in five attempts on grass, and Wimbledon begins on 29 June. Pegula’s win does not answer what comes next at that tournament, but it leaves Sabalenka carrying another late-match loss into it.
Linda Noskova awaits
Noskova reached the final by beating Alexandra Eala 6-2, 6-4, which set up Sunday’s title match against Pegula. For readers following the bracket, the path is simple now: Pegula has the spot in the final, and Noskova is the last hurdle.
Jessica Pegula leads Bett1open quarterfinal spotlight against Madison Keys
Pegula has already shown she can absorb swings in a match and still finish it. The next test is whether that same control carries into Sunday against Noskova.
