Jessica Pegula reached the semi-finals of the Qatar TotalEnergies Open on Thursday. The second seed from the US defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 6-2 in an hour and 25 minutes in their quarter-final clash. Pegula had 22 winners, 10 more than her opponent from Brazil.
She also had 16 unforced errors, four fewer than Haddad Maia’s 20. The world no. 4 won 65% of her first-serve points and 64% of her second-serve points. Haddad Maia won 51% of her first-serve and 52% of her second-serve points.
Pegula also went on to save two of the three break points she faced while converting four break points on Haddad Maia’s serve.
Qatar TotalEnergies Open: Maria Sakkari, Veronika Kudermetova outlast rivals
This is the first time Pegula’s reached the semi-finals of a WTA tournament this year.
Looking to reach her first final of the year, the 28-year-old will play fifth seed Maria Sakkari. The Greek ousted third seed Caroline Garcia 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-6(5) in their quarter-final match-up after two hours and 41 minutes of play.
The Frenchwoman had more winners as compared to the Greek – 43 to the latter’s 30. But her 44 unforced errors let her down. In comparison, Sakkari had only fewer than half that number at 21. After the win, Sakkari said, “The conditions were very tough for both of us.
I think we did a really good job in the second set of holding our serves and not giving the opponent a chance to break. You don’t see that often in women’s tennis. It was pretty impressive. That third-set tiebreak was something special.
I was brave, when in the second-set tiebreak I wasn’t, and I’m just very happy”. Meanwhile, at the top of the Qatar TotalEnergies Open draw, eighth seed Veronika Kudermetova will play top seed Iga Swiatek for a chance to reach the final.
Kudermetova needed slightly more than two hours to post a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 win over fourth seed Coco Gauff in their last-eight meeting.
