Coco Gauff, Maria Sakkari advance to D.C. Open girls’s ultimate

Semifinal Saturday on the D.C. Open produced two top-ten girls’s finalists who will battle it out in Rock Creek Park for the largest title of their profession.

Seven-seed Maria Sakkari continued her fast, maiden tour of Washington, controlling the match however needing a 3rd set to beat fourth-ranked and top-seeded Jessica Pegula, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. She’ll face rising American star Coco Gauff Sunday afternoon after the world No. 7 defeated defending champion Liudmila Samsonova, 6-3, 6-3, as the 2 vie for his or her first WTA 500 title.

With paper followers fluttering within the crowd all through the warmest day of the event, the world No. 9 Sakkari confirmed no indicators of fatigue after successful her third match in a bit greater than 24 hours.

“I’m playing good tennis again. I’m aggressive. That’s something that I lost a little bit this year,” Sakkari mentioned.

After an opening-round bye, her first match Thursday was postponed on account of rain, forcing her and many of the area right into a double-dip on Friday. Amidst that time-crunch, Sakkari has solely dropped one set in her Washington debut and can play within the first hard-court ultimate of her profession.

“I’ll be really honest with you: I didn’t expect my tennis to be that good this week,” Sakkari mentioned. “I was playing really good back home, but I didn’t expect to make the final here.”

Sakkari unfold the ball across the court docket like a painter, wielding her forehand with contact significantly within the first and third units. Along together with her service recreation dominance, it was an unbeatable tandem.

“Maria played very good right from the start,” Pegula mentioned. “She was playing so aggressive and really not making a lot of errors. Playing good defense, I felt like doing everything well, serving well, returning well. To me, she was playing lights out there for a while.”

Sakkari broke Pegula twice within the opening set, with the Greek changing 80% of her first serve factors within the set and successful 45% of her return factors to Pegula’s 27%.

In the second set, Pegula led 40-0 on her serve within the fourth recreation, however Sakkari fought again to win six-straight factors, ending with a down-the-line forehand winner deep within the nook to get the primary break.

After dropping her racket in frustration and sending a ball into the gang after a double fault at completely different factors within the set, Pegula discovered life. She acquired that break again within the seventh recreation, her first of the match, needing all three break factors to take action. 

That was the beginning of a roll for the native New Yorker. Pegula broke Sakkari a second time and served it out, successful the ultimate 5 video games of the set after being down 1-4 to even the match. Unlike within the first set, Pegula discovered her return recreation, successful 58% of these factors the second time round.

“What I told myself was that it happens almost every week that someone’s leading a set and a break and then the opponent comes back,” Sakkari mentioned. “So I was, like, You’re not the first, you’re not the last that is losing this set after being a break up.”

The momentum didn’t final for Pegula. Sakkari commanded her first set kind once more within the third, breaking Pegula twice to take 4 straight video games and the match. Sakkari will attempt to add to her lone WTA win (Rabat, 2019) in her fifth finals look of the yr. 

“Beginning of the third set also I had a few chances I felt like maybe if I could have broke her it could have swung that way again,” Pegula mentioned. “Then she was able to win a couple of good games, break me, and then she played, again, a really high level to close it out.”

Pegula does get a small comfort — her Washington efficiency will bump her again up one spot to No. 3 within the subsequent WTA rankings, equaling her profession excessive.

“I felt like I improved from where I started kind of practicing the week before. I was not feeling good at all. So I’m glad that I was able to kind of get myself out of that funk and at least feel like I’m in a little bit of a match rhythm now and playing rhythm,” Pegula mentioned.

She misses the chance to play for a singles title towards her buddy and doubles running-mate. The third-seeded Gauff sprinted to a fast lead and wanted just one:42 to advance in straight units. The American has been working with — a “partnership,” as Gauff referred to as it —  legendary tennis coach Brad Gilbert for the primary time this week. At 19, she’s the primary teenager to achieve a ultimate in D.C.

Gauff is in search of her second WTA title of the yr and fourth general towards Sakkari, who has overwhelmed her twice already in 2023. Gauff is already a Washington champion in a single regard: She received the ladies’s doubles title with Caty McNally in 2019.