Jessica Pegula has finished round-robin singles play at the WTA Finals with a 3-0 record, a year after going 0-3 at the season-ending championship after a 6-3 6-2 victory over Greece’s Maria Sakkari 6-3 6-2 on Thursday night.
Sakkari, who is ranked No.9 but got into the eight-player field when No.8 Karolina Muchova withdrew with an injured right wrist, finished 0-3 and dropped every set.
Pegula had fewer winners than Sakkari (12-7) but also made roughly half as many unforced errors (35-18), on a windy evening with some brief rain.
The fifth-seeded Pegula extended her overall winning streak to eight matches, including a title at the Korean Open last month.
The 29-year-old American has won all six sets she’s played in Cancun so far.
The other semi-finalist from their group will be determined later Thursday when No.1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka plays Elena Rybakina in a rematch of this year’s Australian Open final.
Sabalenka won that matchup in January for her first grand slam title.
Pegula already had clinched first place in the four-player group by virtue of earlier straight-set victories against Sabalenka and Rybakina on the outdoor hard court built for the event.
The semi-finalists from the other singles group will be settled Friday when US Open champion Coco Gauff takes on Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, and four-time major champ Iga Swiatek meets three-time slam runner-up Ons Jabeur.
Source: AAP
