Tennis: Pegula and Gauff set up all-American final

Two hours and 47 minutes to break Swiatek

Jessica Pegula was a break down in the deciding set and still found a way out. The American trailed 3-1, broke Iga Swiatek at 4-4 and served out a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 win in five points to end the Pole’s 10-match winning streak in Cincinnati.

Return play settled it, not serve. Neither woman won more than 55 percent of her service points, Pegula edging Swiatek 55 to 52. Thirteen breaks in all. The opening set produced five of them in the first five games.

Swiatek landed 70 percent of her first serves and lost anyway. Seven double faults, 34 percent of second-serve points won, six breaks from 12 chances. Pegula created 18 break points and converted a lower share of them, but seven breaks beat six.

“I felt like we were playing well at times and then not playing well at times, so it was really tough to get a gauge on the match,” Pegula said. “So (I’m) really happy with the way I was able to handle a lot that was going on today.”

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Gauff needed 76 minutes

The second semifinal took less than half as long. Coco Gauff beat unseeded Czech Sara Bejlek 6-4, 6-1, taking eight of the last nine games after the opening set sat level at 4-4.

Bejlek arrived on a run that had already removed top seed Aryna Sabalenka and No. 20 Madison Keys. Against Gauff her serve collapsed. Six breaks conceded from seven chances, and Gauff won 56 percent of her return points.

“I was just trying to stay focused,” Gauff said. “Sometimes you don’t know if you should be aggressive and risk making mistakes. I was just trying to stay focused on each ball.”

First all-American final in Mason since 1970

Two American women have contested the singles title here exactly once before, when Rosie Casals faced Nancy Richey 56 years ago. Pegula and Gauff become the second pair.

Pegula reaches the Cincinnati final for the second time in three years. She lost the 2024 championship match to Sabalenka. Gauff won this tournament in 2023 at 19 and is chasing a second title on the same courts, with the US Open just around the corner.

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