WTA Finals: Pegula rallies from match point down to beat Noskova, reaches SF

Jessica Pegula saved a match point to defeat Linda Noskova in a three-set thriller and reach the WTA Finals semifinals. The American will face Mirra Andreeva next after securing second place in Group 1 ahead of Coco Gauff.

Indian Wells: Jessica Pegula bounced back from a match point down to beat Linda Noskova and reach the semifinals of the WTA Finals here at Indian Wells.

Pegula saved a match point and then made a decisive break at 6-5 and went on to win the marathon 2-hour and 45-minute battle 7-6 (2), 4-6, 7-5. She will be up against Mirra Andreeva in the semifinals in their first WTA Tour meeting.

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“I just kept telling myself, ‘This could be your last match for the year, so go out and compete, and you can hold your head high for the rest of the year,” Pegula told reporters, as quoted by the WTA. “But I definitely wanted another chance to still be here.”

Pegula has now become the first player to win a match in the WTA Finals after being a match point down, since Simona Halep did it in 2019. She has now finished Group 1 with 2-1 and takes the second spot to the next stage over her compatriot Coco Gauff, who also had a 2-1 finish, but Pegula went ahead due to her advantage in sets won (five to four).

“It wasn’t feeling that great the first few days here, but it was feeling better the last couple of days in practice,” Pegula said. “I think I just went out and I trusted it. But there were still ups and downs. At times, I don’t think either of us were serving that great. Our first-serve percentages were pretty low.

“In the second set, mine dropped quite a bit, and I felt like that definitely got her back in the match. She was getting way more looks on my second serve and took her chances to be really aggressive, and I think that got her into a really good rhythm going into the third set.”

Pegula starred with a career-high 16 aces. She had a first-serve percentage of 61% in the first set, which dropped to 50% in the second as Noskova made a comeback.

She won the second set, which ensured that she would finish on top of Group 1, regardless of whatever happened in the match. She led 2-0 in the decider and held for a 5-4 lead. Pegula double-faulted and handed Noskova a match point, which the American later saved and held for 5-all before she went on to bag the match.

While Pegula will be up against Andreeva, Noskova will be facing the winner of the round-robin match between Aryna Sabalenka and Elina Svitolina.