Jessica Pegula Beats China’s Yuan Yue to win fourth career title 

World No.4 Jessica Pegula went on an eight-game run to defeat Yuan Yue in the final of the Hana Bank Korea Open.

The 29-year-old American defeated China’s Yuan Yue 6-2, 6-3 in the final of the Hana Bank Korea Open to win her second title of the season and fourth overall.

Seeded No.1 after accepting a wild card, Pegula dropped just one set through the week to become the first American since Venus Williams in 2007 to take the title in Seoul. Having lifted the title in Montreal over the summer, Pegula has captured multiple titles in a single season for the first time in her career.

“My mom is Korean and she was adopted from here so it’s really special to be able to win here,” Pegula said.

“In the last few years, as my ranking has gone up, I’ve definitely felt so much more support from the fans, a lot more than I expected coming back here from five years ago. So it’s really special.”

Pegula’s win over 128th-ranked Yuan is her 53rd win of the season, tying her with No.1 Aryna Sabalenka for the second-most on the Hologic WTA Tour behind No.2 Iga Swiatek (63).

In Seoul, Pegula defeated Viktoria Hruncakova, Ashlyn Krueger, Claire Liu and Yanina Wickmayer to reach her fourth final of 2023, and second of the Asian swing after finishing runner-up at Tokyo.