No. 1 seed Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys will battle for the title Saturday at Australia’s Adelaide International, the fifth All-American WTA Tour final of this decade.
Pegula defeated Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva 7-6 (4), 6-3 in Friday’s semifinals while Keys was leading 5-7, 7-5, 3-0 when Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova retired with an abdominal injury. Pegula and Keys split two previous meetings, with the latter winning the most recent clash in the 2023 U.S. Open fourth round.
Pegula won 10 of her 11 service games against Putintseva and hasn’t lost a set this week. Keys collected 12 aces and saved three of five break points against Samsonova.
Hobart International
No. 2 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium will try to win the Australian tournament for a third time in Saturday’s final against unseeded American McCartney Kessler.
Mertens dispatched 18-year-old wild card Maya Joint of Australia 6-2, 6-3 in 79 minutes in the semifinals. Despite seven double faults, Mertens only had her serve broken once.
Kessler rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the third set to beat No. 6 seed Elina Avanesyan of Armenia 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. It is the second tour-level final for Kessler, who claimed her maiden title in Cleveland last August.
–Field Level Media
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