Three is Jessica Pegula’s lucky tennis number right now.
The American earned her third win against world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in her eighth consecutive three-set match. She dethroned the three-time Wuhan Open champion 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(2) in the semifinals in China, inflicting Sabalenka’s first defeat in Wuhan in 21 matches.
Pegula looked out of the contest when down 5-3 in the third set, as Sabalenka served for the match, but the American broke to extend the contest before holding for 5-5. Sabalenka then went down 0-40 and saved all three break points, but Pegula played an incredible defensive point on a fourth chance to break, and forced Sabalenka to slide a backhand volley wide.
The world No. 1 hurled her racket to the side of the court, but the match was not over. 6-5 up and serving for the match, Pegula hit four double faults, her first and only four of the match, one coming on her first match point. Sabalenka broke back, to send the match into a third-set tiebreak.
But instead of wilting against the world No. 1, who had won 19 tiebreaks in a row, Pegula raced to a 6-1 lead, earning five match points against her increasingly frazzled opponent. Sabalenka saved one with a drop shot, but a wide forehand gave Pegula a win that looked first far away, then excruciatingly close, and then so far away again. Before the victory, Pegula had lost to Sabalenka four times in a row, in one Grand Slam final (2024 U.S. Open), one Grand Slam semifinal (2025 U.S. Open) and two WTA 1000 finals.
Pegula had also lost from match point up in her previous WTA 1000 semifinal, against Linda Nosková in Beijing. In a set of circumstances perfectly configured to fry a tennis player mentally, Pegula did not let his one slip.
She will face Coco Gauff in the final, after the world No. 3 beat Jasmine Paolini in a straight-set scoreline that did not tell the story. Gauff won 6-4, 6-3, but all 11 games from 3-2 in the first set to 3-3 in the second were breaks of serve.