Jessica Pegula Reveals How She Finally Got Her Revenge on Aryna Sabalenka in ‘Crazy’ Wuhan Clash

Jessica Pegula now trails 3-8 in the head-to-head matchups against World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka.

Jessica Pegula Reveals How She Finally Got Her Revenge on Aryna Sabalenka in ‘Crazy’ Wuhan Clash

Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula (Image via X/Aryna Sabalenka Archive, We Are Tennis)

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Jessica Pegula has finally defeated Aryna Sabalenka after four consecutive losses. In the ongoing Wuhan Open, Pegula came from a set down to secure her career’s third win over the Belarusian after playing 11 matches.

Prior to this season, Pegula had never progressed beyond the third round in Wuhan. She, in fact, never played a quarterfinal in a WTA 1000 event of the East Asian swing before this year. Before arriving in Wuhan, Pegula’s China Open run was ended by eventual runner-up Linda Noskova in the semifinals.

The Wuhan Open’s first seed was the reason why the American couldn’t win three Big Titles after reaching the finals, including last year’s US Open. It was the third time Pegula clashed with the four-time Grand Slam singles champion this year, following the Miami Open final and the US Open semifinals.

That was crazy. I can’t believe I came back and won that. I was very nervous trying to serve it out. Lost my timing, lost my rhythm, trying to go for too much, but I bounced right back in the tiebreak. I’m just really proud of myself. I have played so much tennis in the last few weeks, so many three-set matches, but I feel like I’m very tough right now, and I’m just using that as best as I can.

Jessica Pegula said during the on-court interview

Pegula is the winner of three WTA 1000 titles, the last of which she clinched at the 2024 Canadian Open by beating Amanda Anisimova.

I just thought I’m lucky that I even came back from 5-2, you know? I was serving for it, but I mean, the last few weeks I have had a lot of match points that have slipped, match points that I’ve lost, I’ve saved match points, so to be honest, it was nothing new. It has been like that every single match. I guess I was just used to it. I just stayed super present and played the next point, moved on, tried to think about my strategy, and what I needed to focus on.

Jessica Pegula added

The World No.1, also the defending champion and the winner of nine WTA 1000 titles, was chasing her fifth trophy of the season. Pegula has three titles to her name from five finals this year.

Jessica Pegula will face Coco Gauff

Winning her first Big Title of the season won’t be an easy task for Jessica Pegula, for she will be up against none other than her compatriot Coco Gauff. The 21-year-old has been working a lot to fix her serving issues, but despite that, she kept committing double faults.

Coco Gauff (via X/The Tennis Letter)
Coco Gauff (via X/The Tennis Letter)

This, however, did not affect her matches much, as en route to the championship clash, she knocked out all her opponents, including Jasmine Paolini in the semifinals, in straight sets.

Gauff has played Pegula six times, and twice she was able to clinch the win, including in the round robin stage of last year’s WTA Finals, which she won by beating Qinwen Zheng in the final. The two-time Grand Slam singles champion is bidding to win her second title of the season following her victory at the French Open.

This is the first time she has reached a singles final since her triumph at Roland Garros. Prior to playing her third final of the season, Gauff was defeated in the finals of the Madrid Open and Italian Open by Aryna Sabalenka and Paolini, respectively. Gauff, the winner of two WTA 1000 titles, has reached a final of the Asian swing for the second time following the China Open last year (won the match by beating Karolina Muchova).

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