Jessica Pegula beat Yulia Putintseva 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 in 1 hour and 29 minutes in the semifinal of the Adelaide International to reach the 15th WTA singles final of her career. Pegula improved to 3-0 in her head-to-head matches against Putintseva.
Pegula broke Putintseva in the first game. Putintseva came up with a series of lobs and passing shots to break back for 4-4. The Kazakh player took a 4-2 lead in the tie-break. Pegula won five consecutive points to win the tie-break 7-4.
Pegula broke serve in the sixth game of the second set and served out on his first match point to secure her spot in the final
“I knew Putintseva was playing good tennis and was going to be tricky and break up the rhythm a little bit, but I thought I handled it pretty well. I was a little bit lucky in the tie-break but I was able to play some good tennis in the end”, said Pegula.
Pegula will clash against Madison Keys setting up the fifth all-American WTA Tour final of this decade. Keys reached the final when her opponent Liudmila Samsonova was forced to withdraw from the match due to an abdominal injury when Keys was leading 5-7 7-5 3-0.
Samsonova earned an early break in the second game to take a 3-0 lead in the opening set. Keys converted her third break-back point after saving three set points in the ninth game to draw level to 5-5. Samsonova earned another break on her fourth break point in the 12th game to win the first set 7-5. Samsonova was just a game away from winning the match at 7-5 5-4. Keys bounced back by winning the next six games to open up a 5-7 7-5 3-0 lead before Samsonova decided to withdraw from the match.
“Obviously not how you want to win a match, with a retirement, but I think I was very proud of myself today, being able to stay in the match. She came out playing so well at the start. Being able to just tough it out and staying in the match as long as I could. I am very happy about that”, said Keys. Pegula has drawn 1-1 in her previous head-to-head matches against Keys. Pegula beat Keys 6-4 7-5 in the quarter finals in San Diego in 2022. Keys avenged this defeat by beating Pegula 6-1 6-3 in the US Open fourth round in 2023.
