Pegula and Fritz lose in the Washington semifinals
WASHINGTON: American top seeds Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz lost in the Washington Open semi-finals on Saturday, but Coco Gauff kept the flag flying by qualifying for the championship match.
Fourth-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece defeated top-seeded Pegula to win her third match in 26 hours. In the final, she will take on another home favorite, Gauff, who defeated the previous champion, Russian Samsanova, in straight sets.
Fritz lost to Tallon Griekspoor 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, and the Dutchman will face Britain’s Dan Evans for the championship after Evans defeated Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-3, 7-6 (7-4)The WTA and ATP hard court tournament’s ninth-ranked Sakkari, who had to play twice on Friday due to rain on Thursday, reached her first final since losing to Pegula in Guadalajara last October.
Sakkari added, “It would have been ideal if I could have left the court an hour earlier.” But ultimately, I succeeded in achieving my goal of winning. Sakkari, who advanced to her sixth career final, took home her lone WTA crown in Rabat in 2019.Pegula, the 2019 Washington champion, was denied the opportunity to go to her sixth career final, but she will next week tie her previous high of third in the world rankings.
Saqari dominated the first set and led 4-1 in the second, but Pegula broke Sakari in the seventh game and tied it at 4-4.A double fault gave Pegula a break point in the ninth game and Sakkari hit a forehand for a 5-4 lead. Then the American held out to impose a third set.
