American tennis player Jessica Pegula has eliminated world number one Aryna Sabalenka from the Berlin Open, defeating the Belarusian star 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-0 in a hard-fought semifinal on June 20, dealing a blow to Sabalenka’s Wimbledon preparations.
Pegula will now compete in the tournament final against Czech eighth seed Linda Noskova, who punched her ticket to the championship match by defeating Filipino player Alexandra Eala 6-2, 6-4.
Sabalenka, who was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the French Open, struggled to find her footing from the very beginning of the match. Pegula capitalized on an early break to claim the opening set.
A rain delay interrupted the match’s momentum heading into the second-set tiebreak, which Sabalenka managed to win. However, Pegula bounced back emphatically in the third set, running through it without much resistance.
Reflecting on the match, Pegula — who won the Berlin title in 2024 — described the impact of the weather stoppage: “I told myself after I ended up losing that second-set tiebreak that before the rain delay, I had a lot of momentum. She just hit a double fault. I felt like I kind of had it there and I was serving well.”
“I was in a good rhythm, and then having to get off court and losing that pretty quickly — only winning one point in the tiebreak was a little tough,” Pegula continued. “But she’s No. 1 in the world for a reason and I feel like I gave her too many easy shots and she went for it and that’s just what happens.”
All four of Sabalenka’s Grand Slam titles have come on hard courts, with her most recent championship coming at the 2025 U.S. Open. She continues to chase her first Wimbledon title despite reaching the semifinal stage three times. Earlier this year, she fell in the Australian Open final to Elena Rybakina, one year after finishing runner-up to American Madison Keys.
In the other semifinal, Noskova was dominant from the start, breaking early to take the first set with ease. Eala struggled to find answers in the second set, and Noskova closed out the victory to secure her spot in the final.
