Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff set for all-American Cincinnati Open final

No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 4 Coco Gauff each won their respective semifinals Saturday to set up the first all-American women's singles championship match at the Cincinnati Open since 1970.

The duo will be just the second American women's pair to face off in the final match of the Mason, Ohio, tournament, joining Rosie Casals and Nancy Richey.

Pegula snapped Iga Swiatek's 10-match winning streak with a marathon 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 victory in the day's first semifinal.

She rallied from down 3-1 in the decisive set, coming away with what became the game-winning break of No. 7 Swiatek of Poland at 4-4 in the third set before serving out the match in five points to finish off a victory in 2 hours, 47 minutes.

While serves often lead the day in top-level tennis, elite return play was on display in Saturday's first semifinal. Both competitors barely won more than half of their service points (Pegula won 55% to Swiatek's 52%). There were a combined 13 breaks in the match, including the first five games of the opening set.

"I felt like we were playing well at times and then not playing well at times, so it was really tough to get a gauge on the match," Pegula said. "So (I'm) really happy with the way I was able to handle a lot that was going on today."

Swiatek landed on 70% of her first serves but had seven double faults and won just 34% of her second-serve points. Pegula had more break-point opportunities (18 to 12) and converted a lower percentage of them but finished with seven converted breaks to Swiatek's six.

Gauff had an easier time with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over unseeded Czech Sara Bejlek, who was unable to carry over the momentum from her upsets of top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka and No. 20 Madison Keys in the prior two rounds.

Gauff won eight of the match's final nine games after finding herself in a 4-4 first-set deadlock.

She was exceptionally opportunistic on Bejlek's serve, converting six of seven break-point chances and winning 56% of her return points.

"I was just trying to stay focused," Gauff said after the match, which lasted just 76 minutes. "Sometimes you don't know if you should be aggressive and risk making mistakes. I was just trying to stay focused on each ball."

Pegula is through to the final in Cincinnati for the second time in three years, previously losing the championship to Sabalenka in 2024. Gauff is seeking her second Cincinnati Open title after winning the tournament in 2023 at 19 years old.

--Field Level Media