The Queen of Wuhan has been – temporarily, at least – dethroned.
Jessica Pegula snapped three-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka’s 20-match winning streak in Wuhan with a dramatic 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(1) victory.
“That was crazy,” Pegula said. “I can’t believe I won that.”
Sixth-seeded Pegula took the circuitous route to victory. Playing her eighth consecutive three-set match, she rallied from a set down, and then from 5-2 down in the decider. Unyielding Sabalenka refused to go quietly even then, as she saved two match points to force a tiebreak, but she could not stop Pegula in the final-set tiebreak as the American rolled through seven of nine points and converted her third match point to book her sixth final of 2025.
The victory marks Pegula’s fifth win over a reigning world No.1, as she snaps a four-match losing streak against Sabalenka and improves to 3-8 overall against the four-time major champion.
Pegula won four straight games in the final set to flip the script on Sabalenka, going from 2-5 down to 6-5 up, but she faltered in the 12th game, and tossed in four double-faults to hand Sabalenka a lifeline.
“I was clearly very nervous trying to serve it out, lost my timing and lost my rhythm, trying to go for too much.
“I’m really proud of myself, I’ve played so much tennis in the last few weeks – I feel like I’m very tough right now and I’m using that as best as I can.”
Pegula will face Coco Gauff in an all-American final on Sunday in Wuhan. Gauff took out Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 6-3 in Saturday’s first semifinal.
“It will be awesome playing Coco in the final here. We know each other so well, there’s no secrets. It’s always an honor to play here, especially in a final.”
Gauff is bidding for her third WTA 1000 title.
Pegula holds the 4-2 edge over Gauff, and they have never before met in a final.
Since 1990, Alison Riske is the player who has played the most consecutive three-set matches on tour. She played ten in a row in 2019.
