Jessica Pegula rallied from a break down to beat Iga Swiatek 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 in nearly three hours. She faces either Sara Bejlek or Coco Gauff in Sunday's final.
Alpha Score of 66 reflects moderate overall profile with strong momentum, moderate value, moderate quality. Based on 3 of 4 signals – score is capped at 90 until remaining data ingests.
CINCINNATI – Jessica Pegula rallied from a break down in the final set to beat defending champion Iga Swiatek 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 on Saturday and reach the final of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters.
The world No. 3 needed nearly three hours to get past Swiatek. The pair traded breaks and re-breaks before Pegula took a 5-4 lead in the decider after Swiatek saved three break points but double-faulted on a fourth. Pegula closed it out with a service winner on match point.
Pegula will face either unseeded Sara Bejlek or fourth-ranked Coco Gauff in Sunday's final. Bejlek, 20, knocked off world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth round.
Swiatek will drop from fifth to eighth in the rankings after failing to defend her title. Still, August has been productive for the former world No. 1, who won her first title of the year in Toronto earlier this month.
In men's action, France's Arthur Fils charged into the final with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Flavio Cobolli. The match was delayed 45 minutes by rain and lightning. Fils, 22, booked his first Masters 1000 final, where he will face either Brandon Nakashima or Frances Tiafoe.
Fils's 68-minute win made him the youngest French Masters finalist since a 20-year-old Richard Gasquet in Toronto two decades ago.
"You come on court more nervous because it's a semi-final. The rain arrives, you wait, and when you come back conditions are completely different," Fils said. "It was tough but I'm happy with how I dealt with it."
Cobolli gained an early edge with a break for 2-1 but dropped his own serve to love. Fils broke to start the second set and closed it out with a forehand winner.
"I started out slow but the momentum began to change from 4-3 in the first set when I won some tough rallies," Fils said. "The momentum started going my way and I felt much better on serve."
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