Jessica Pegula Upsets World. No 1, Enters Finals in Montreal 

Jessica Pegula moved through to the third WTA 1000 final of her career at the Omnium Banque Nationale in Montreal with a 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-4 upset of World No.1 Iga Swiatek in Saturday’s semifinals.

“It was a great match,” Pegula said. “It was tough. Kind of a roller coaster. Really up and down, but I’m glad I was able to hold my nerve there at the end.”

Pegula was 0-2 in the semifinals in Canada before her 2-hour, 30-minute win against Swiatek, where she trailed 4-2 in the final set. Pegula had previously served for the match at 6-2, 5-4 in the second set, and led 4-2 in the tiebreak, before Swiatek forced the final set.

After losing four times to Swiatek in 2022, the American is now 2-1 against her this year. She was a 6-2, 6-2 winner against her at United Cup in January, where the U.S. team won the title.

Pegula wouldn’t win another point in the second set after that, and Swiatek in fact won 13 straight points from 4-2 down in the second-set tiebreak — 12 of which came after the pause in play.

“I just thought it was funny,” Pegula said. “I’ve never had that happen, let alone with ‘Cotton-Eye Joe.’ I was, like, is this really happening right now? Of all the songs. It was just, like, what is going on?”

Pegula will look to be the first American to win the WTA 1000 in Canada since Serena Williams triumphed in 2013 against either No.3 seed Elena Rybakina or No.15 seed Liudmila Samsonova, who’ll play their semifinal Sunday.