San Diego Open: Marta Kostyuk beats top seed Jessica Pegula in final
San Diego Open: Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk has made it to the finals by defeating top-seeded American Jessica Pegula 7-6(4), 6-1 in the semi-finals of the San Diego Open.
Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine defeated top-seeded American Jessica Pegula 7-6(4), 6-1, to advance to the San Diego Open final. The 21-year-old Ukrainian player defeated the world No. 5 in 1 hour and 35 minutes after falling behind 5-1 in the opening set. Katie Boulter will be her opponent for the title.
With a 2-0 lead early on, Pegula appeared certain to continue her unbeaten run against Kostyuk. Kostyuk stepped up his aggression and swiftly reversed the 5-1 deficit. After winning four games in a row to tie the set at five, Kostyuk held his serve and took a six-point advantage.
Pegula held serve for the tiebreak, but Kostyuk's momentum carried her and she won the tiebreak 7–4 to take the opening set. Sticking to his winning game plan, Kostyuk continued his dominance in the second set. He finished the match with 26 winners against 23 unforced errors. According to the WTA report, Pegula hit 16 winners committed 19 unforced errors and was broken five times.
Meanwhile, Boulter reached her first hard-court final by defeating No. 3 seed Emma Navarro 6-3, 6-1. The win was Boulter's second win against a top 3 seed this week, having defeated No. 2 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia in the first round.
