The Americans Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys, Number 7 and 20 in the rankings respectively, they will play for the WTA 500 Adelaide title, in a final that serves as a preamble to the start of the Australian Open, after defeating Yulia Putintseva and Liudmila Samsonova respectively in the semis.
The semifinal day started with Madison Keys and the Russian Lyudmila Samsonova face each other for the sixth time since 2021.
Keys has a historic head-to-head, with 4 out of 5 previous victories, so Samsonova started the match with determination and, after a first set that lasted up to 12 games, won 5-7 and forced Keys to try your hardest.
So he did. Madison Keys, with the same score where she lost in the first set, took the second round and extended it all to the third set which would have left her the first finalist of the competition.
Liudmila Samsonova called for a medical timeout and, after losing the first three games of the decisive third quarter, was unable to continue and withdrew from the match. The result was 5-7, 7-5, 3-0 (retirement).
Keys reached the final but wanted to remember her rival, saying that her level was very good and that she was never satisfied with wins over injured players.
In the other semifinal, North American Jessica Pegula and Kazakh Yulia Putintseva will play in the closest match of this semi-final round. In a painful first set, Jessica Pegula pressed her tennis and managed to win the first match in a painful tiebreak (7-6) 4, which she reached thanks to saving a decisive break point.
Her serve was crucial, as Pegula won two straight serves while Putintseva failed to capitalize on this aspect of the game.
Already in the second quarter, the Kazakh was once again overtaken by Pegula, who gave him a solid 6-3 after breaking his serve to make it 4-2. Managing the advantage well, the American proved to be one of the favorites and will fight this Saturday for the WTA 500 title.
He will debut in the Australian Open match Maya Jointthe 18-year-old Australian made headlines for his excellent tournament in Hobart, where he reached the semifinals.
Source: La Verdad
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