Jessica Pegula saves five championship points to down Anna Kalinskaya to win Berlin title
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ByOli Gent
Updated 23/06/2024 at 14:08 GMT
Jessica Pegula won a fifth WTA Tour title in Berlin with an enthralling three-set victory over Anna Kalinskaya. The American won 6-7(0) 6-4 7-6(3) in two hours and 38 minutes, having only qualified for Sunday's final on the morning, with her semi-final against Coco Gauff delayed overnight due to rain. The fourth seed saved five championship points in the decider, before converting her first.
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Jessica Pegula won her first ever grass-court title with a thrilling three-set victory over Anna Kalinskaya, where she saved five championship points.
The American fourth seed came through the unseeded Russian 6-7(0) 6-4 7-6(3) in two hours and 38 minutes in the German capital.
Pegula, now a five-time WTA Tour champion, had only qualified for Sunday's final that morning after her semi-final against Coco Gauff was rain-delayed.
Kalinskaya came through two walkovers to get to the final, against higher-ranked opposition - world No. 6 Marketa Vondrousova and world No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka.
Vondrousova retired from their last 16 encounter with the score at 5-5 after she had slipped and injured her right hip, while Sabalenka trailed 5-1 but was struggling with an issue in her shoulder.
The first set was a bizarre one, with neither player able to hold serve until the penultimate games of the set, when two holds were traded to force an opening tiebreak.
Kalinskaya romped through it, whitewashing Pegula with some sumptuous hitting from the back of the court to take it 7-0.
The fourth seed fought back in the second, showing her quality as both players' serves steadied.
Into the decider, Pegula continued to rally, but she found herself a break down at 4-2.
The American replied to bring it back to 4-4, and she was in the ascendancy as Kalinskaya fended off five break points in a critical game to eke ahead at 5-4.
That forced Pegula into serving to stay in the match, which she started doing poorly, bringing up four championship points for her unseeded opponent.
Kalinskaya's nerves appeared to get the better of her with a couple of spurned opportunities as she tried to up her level once more, but Pegula hung in to display fantastic athleticism and determination to level proceedings.
Kalinskaya, who lost in the second round of the French Open, overcame her previous disappointment to hold convincingly, showing excellent court coverage and variety in her shot selection to pile the pressure on Pegula once more.
A thunderous backhand cross-court levelled the final game at 30-30, and an exquisite lob and forehand putaway teed up a fifth championship point, where Pegula bravely crashed an ace down the T.
She found two more stunning serves to force the deciding tiebreak, but she undid all her good work with a double fault to gift Kalinskaya the mini-break at 2-1.
She earned it straight back with a whipped forehand return winner down the line, and a sumptuous lob landed right on the baseline, forcing Kalinskaya to lash a forehand long and put the American within two points of victory.
Another Kalinskaya forehand flew long to set up three championship points for the fourth seed, and a final forehand clipped the tape and dropped the wrong side to hand Pegula a first grass-court title.
"Congrats to Anna," Pegula said afterwards.
"She’s had a really great year and I feel like you’re playing like a top player. I hope you keep it up. I’m sorry today went the way it did, but we played at a really high level. It was a really good match and we left it all out there. It was a rough week. I grinded this week, with the singles, doubles, the delays, another delay… doubles delay, singles delay… there was a lot.
"Thanks to the fans that sold out this final and pushed me through to the end because I was so tired. It’s great to see a women’s final on Steffi Graf Stadion so packed. We love that, that’s why we play."
"It’s been an incredible week for me," an emotional Kalinskaya said.
"I missed playing on grass and making the final here means a lot to me. Losing today is upsetting, but congratulations to [Jessica]; you’re such a fighter, and I will see you back on tour. If we play like this against each other every time, I will be happy for both of us."
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