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Jessica Pegula gave an adorable shoutout to her teammate Emma Navarro after earning the USA's place in the final of the Billie Jean King Cup. Ahead of Pegula's match, Navarro locked horns with Sonay Kartal in the semifinals of the tournament.
After Navarro defeated Kartal in the opening singles match, registering a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win, Pegula squared off against Katie Boulter. The American prevailed against the Brit with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 win, sealing her team's place in the tournament's final.
Following this impressive feat, she spoke to the media, where she gave a shoutout to her teammate Navarro, stating that her performance in the opening match inspired her to play better against Boulter.
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"I think, one thing watching my teammate Emma win earlier motivated me a lot, inspired me a lot. The way she turned that match around. Go Emma," said Jessica Pegula.
Ahead of her Billie Jean King Cup campaign, Pegula played at the US Open, where she delivered stunning performances and reached the semifinals. However, she couldn't progress further to the final after being bested by Aryna Sabalenka, who dominated the round, claiming a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win.
Jessica Pegula opened up about qualifying for the finals at the Billie Jean King Cup
Following her incredible performance against Katie Boulter in the second round, Jessica Pegula made her feelings known about her and Navarro's match in the post-match media interaction. Revealing that she was super happy with both her and her teammate's win, she said that she wanted to prove that she was playing as the No.1 player on the team for a reason (via BillieJean KingCup.com):
"Super happy. It was a battle both matches today for me and Emma, happy to be through there.I really wanted to not let that go to a doubles. Especially after against Kazakhstan, I wanted to prove that I'm playing as the No. 1 player on the team for a reason and close it out. So I'm glad I was able to turn that around," said Jessica Pegula.
She added that even though Navarro's win had eased much of the pressure, she still wanted to be the one to finish it off.
“Once Emma got that first win, obviously it takes a lot of pressure in a way off of me, but at the same time I want to be the one responsible for being able to kind of finish it."
Outside of her tennis heroics, Jessica Pegula recently got honest about her lonely teenage years struggling under coaches she did not like.
