Jessica Pegula said knowing how to win ugly was the key to her triumph over McCartney Kessler in Sunday's all-American final at the ATX Open in Austin. (More Tennis News)
Pegula recorded a scrappy 7-5 6-2 victory to claim her second title of the year, in the first all-American WTA final on United States soil since the 2017 US Open 바카라“ when Sloane Stephens beat Madison Keys.
The world number four found herself a break down in the opener at 3-4, but errors started to creep into the big-hitting game favoured by Kessler, who also appeared to struggle with the windy conditions.
Pegula saved two break points in a marathon 12th game to take the opener, and despite losing serve at the start of the second set, she immediately responded with successive breaks and was untroubled from there. Â
In her courtside interview, Pegula acknowledged she was on the back foot in the opening set but had decided not to force things against an error-prone opponent.
"At the end of the first set, I was still really struggling," Pegula said.Â
"It was ugly. It was a lot of back and forth and there were definitely a lot of points that she probably should have won, but the conditions were really tough.Â
"She overshot a few shots and went for it too much. When that happens, you don't ask questions and you just go 'okay, I바카라™ll just try to use that to win this set'. Luckily, I was able to do that."
Data Debrief: Mistakes cost McCartney
Kessler racked up 34 unforced errors throughout Sunday's match, barely giving herself a chance against an opponent who played largely mistake-free tennis.
The victory snaps a three-match losing streak for Pegula in finals, and she is now unbeaten in five on American soil ahead of back-to-back WTA 1000 events at Indian Wells and Miami.
