Jessica Pegula matches Venus and Serena Williams in a rare feat following her victory over Iga Swiatek at the Canadian Open
Pegula becomes the first woman since 2014 to defeat World No.1 in the Montreal based tournament.
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(L) Serena Williams and Venus Williams, (R) Jessica Pegula (Image via CNN/Sky Sports)
As the semi-finals phase in Montreal, it’s interesting to take a look at the statistics that have come up post Jessica Pegula‘s win over World No. 1 Iga Swiatek. Pegula with her win over the World No. 1 becomes only the first player since 2014 to do so in Montreal.
The last time, in 2014, it was Venus Williams who had defeated her sister Serena in the semi-finals. It is a big feat for the American to have defeated the dominant number one of her times. She also reaches her third WTA 1000 final. It is a great feat for her being an American, as she is just behind the Williams sisters in terms of reaching the 1000-point finals.
Post the introduction of the format in 2009, Serena has reached 18 and Venus has reached six WTA 1000 finals. Third in line Pegula as she makes it to her third WTA finals. It’s a great occasion for the American, as she manages to get just behind the Williams sisters in American tennis in many ways. She would like to challenge and get ahead of them in the upcoming tournaments.
Specifically about the match though, it was more about who was able to hold their serve as both players struggled to do that with Pegula eventually beating Swiatek in three tight sets. The final scoreline read 6-2 6-7 6-4. With this, Pegula has confirmed one spot in the finals and will wait for her opponent to reach the final stage.
Swiatek has a dreadful serving day against Pegula
The rallies in tennis are 50% important and the remaining 50% is taken up by serve. It is the only shot that a tennis player can control. Everything else needs to be reacted to. In her semi-final against Pegula, Swiatek lost complete control over her serve. She allowed the American to dominate the proceedings. Swiatek, in her illustrious career so far, has never won a match after losing 7 or more service games. She holds a 0-9 record in those terms. The maximum number of service games she ever lost before the semi-final was 9.
It happened against Jelena Ostapenko in Dubai 2022 and Kontaveit in the Australian Open 2020. However, in her match against Pegula, she lost 11 service games. It was a lot, and one could see she was clearly struggling. Her return game was good which helped her make the match interesting. However, she couldn’t win it as her serve didn’t complement her return game at all.
As the US Open approaches the World No. 1 would like to work on this integral part of her game. It is so that she can breeze through the rounds.
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Manan Mehta
(215 Articles Published)