MONTREAL: Jessica Pegula beat world number one Iga Swiatek 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-4 in 2hr 30mins on Saturday to reach the Canadian Open final before wet weather left the American waiting to discover the identity of her WTA Montreal Open final opponent.

Heavy rain over the Montreal region washed out Saturday’s second semi-final between third seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan and 15th seed Liudmila Samsonova.

American world number three Pegula, playing in her third consecutive Canadian Open semi-final, broke Swiatek’s serve 11 times and managed her way through the big moments of the match better than the four-times Grand Slam winner.

“She always makes it tough but of course it’s incredibly rewarding to beat the number one player in the world and I am sure that will give me a lot of confidence going into tomorrow and the next couple weeks,” Pegula said securing a spot in her first Canadian Open final.

Neither player was able to defend their serve until Pegula held to love for a 4-2 lead and the American followed that by going up a double break before producing a pair of aces to close out the first set on her next service game.

Swiatek looked to have settled into a groove as she opened the second set with her first service hold of the day followed by a pair of breaks for a 3-1 lead.

Pegula, however, clawed back and opened up a 5-4 lead after breaking Swiatek for the eighth time but was unable to serve out the match as the Pole levelled the frame before going on to force the decider.

It seemed as if Swiatek had weathered the storm in the final set, breaking Pegula twice early on to take a 4-2 lead.

But once again Swiatek’s service game unraveled, Pegula holding for 4-3 before breaking to make it 4-4.

A confident service game left Pegula 5-4 ahead, and the American then grabbed a match point when Swiatek hit a forehand long in the next game.

Another wide forehand from Swiatek sealed one of the biggest win of Pegula’s career.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2023