American Jessica Pegula converted her seventh match point to defeat world queen Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 6-3 on Tuesday at the WTA Finals.
Pegula has won each of the four rounds she has played so far in the preliminary phase, a year after going 0-3 in the season-ending tournament.
She qualified for the semi-finals thanks to Elena Rybakina’s victory against Maria Sakkari in the evening. Rybakina won 6-0, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2) against eighth-seeded Sakkari.
Sabalenka, champion of the Australian Open in January and runner-up at the US Open in September, had won her last four matches against fifth-seeded Pegula in Cancun.
Tuesday, on a temporary hard surface that was criticized by Sabalenka and other players, Pegula was dominant at times. She notably won four games in a row in the first round, as well as the first four games of the second round, winning 16 points out of 19.
Sabalenka, who lost just one game Sunday against Sakkari, committed 17 unforced errors in the first set, compared to eight for Pegula.
The hardest part for Pegula was closing the books.
Serving for the match at 5-2, she earned two match points at 40-15. But Pegula then committed his first double fault of the match… then his second. Moments later, Sabalenka broke her serve.
In the next game, Pegula found himself in control 0-40, with three match points in hand. And once again, Sabalenka saved all three with two backhand and one forehand winners. Pegula wasted a sixth match point by sending a forehand into the net.
Sabalenka, however, seemed to lack energy. She double-faulted, then sent a forehand into the net to give Pegula a seventh match point. Sabalenka then missed a shot by hitting the ball with the frame of her racket, giving victory to her rival.
By virtue of this defeat against Pegula, Sabalenka will have to defeat fourth-seeded Rybakina to reach the final four.
Sakkari seemed at the end of his rope, after his crushing defeat against Sabalenka on Sunday and a quick first round against Rybakina on Tuesday. However, she saved three break points early in the second set and began to find her bearings.
After 12 consecutive games won on serve, the two players had to play a tiebreaker. Sakkari quickly erased a 2-0 deficit and forced the presentation of a final round.
Serving at 4-4, Rybakina gave up two break points and a chance to serve for the match to Sakkari. The 2022 Wimbledon champion, however, closed the door and took a 5-4 lead.
Rybakina then won the first six points of the tiebreaker and ended the match after two hours and 25 minutes of play.