Pegula outlasts Sakkari and wins the Guadalajara Master 1,000

the American Jessica Pegula beat Greek Maria Sakkari 6-2, 6-3 on Sunday to win the 1,000 tennis Masters, which took place in Guadalajara as a preview of the WTA Final.

In one of her best performances on tour, Pegula, who in her debut came within a point of defeat against Kazakh Elena Rybakina, grew as the tournament progressed to reach the decisive match at her best tennis and add the his second title as a professional, the first in a Master 1,000.

Pegula needed just 27 minutes to win the first set, where she showed 91 percent of first serve points won and capitalized on 11 unforced errors from her opponent, at times stunned by the force of shots and speed of North American.

In game five the Greek committed a pair of double faults and suffered the first of two breaks.; the other was in the seventh where he crashed several balls against the net.

For the second set, Sakkari took a 1-0 advantage with his serve, which caused a reaction from the fans, who shouted his name, grateful that the player was wearing the shirt of the Mexican soccer team and assured support he is the team in the World Cup in Qatar.

Pegula escaped from 15-30 in the second ‘game’, then he broke in the third, to, after confirming, go ahead 3-1.

Sakkari, who played a few hours before the closing set of the semifinal against Czech Maria Bouzkova, admitted that she slept an average of five hours a day in the last three days, which may explain his inability to respond to his opponent’s shots and his 25 unforced errors.

The Greek, ranked sixth, was flawless in the fifth game, but in the seventh, he failed again and suffered a second break.

In unfavorable psychological conditions, with little room to turn around, Sakkari showed signs of honor. He ventured into game eight with balls in the corners and hit his first break to stay alive, trailing 5-3.

Tense, Sakkari double-faulted early in Game 9, asserted the errors and suffered his fifth break of the match to help Pegula win.

“This result will give me a lot of confidence for the Grand Slams; is the next stepPegula told a news conference.

Pegula, what? added 900 points and a prize of 412,000 dollarswon his second tournament as a professional, the first in a Master 1,000, which will raise her this Monday from fifth to third place in the WTA rankingposition where she will compete in the WTA Finals, in Fort Worth, from October 31 to November 7.

The American joked about ‘Grand Slams’ and said it would be nice not to face Iga Swiatek of Poland, number one in the world rankings, who is currently the best player of the season, in the quarterfinals.

Pegula became less competitive. She was one point away from being eliminated in the second round by Kazakh Elena Rybanikabut survived, advanced and reached the final after defeating four Grand Slam winners: Rybakina, Bianca Andreescu of Canada, Sloane Stephens of the USA and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

“All the rivals I defeated were tough, but I handled my nerves and emotions well. I’m proud of myself,” she asserted.

Pegula described herself as an ambitious and perfectionist person and assured that the victory and climbing to third place in the ranking for the first time, will boost her confidence to compete in the WTA final.

“I have the Finals and the Billie Jean King Cup in the next two weeks. I will rest, I will return to training in December, and I hope to start in the best way at the Australian Open,” he added.

Jessica admits that she doesn’t like playing in high places, but after his victory in Guadalajara, more than 1,500 meters above sea level, that will be considered. “We have to go back,” he concluded.

The one in Guadalajara was the first Master 1,000 tournament in Latin America, celebrated by the WTA, which praised the organization of the tournament, which has many possibilities to establish themselves in the tour.