Jessica Pegula claimed she felt she was facing Serena Williams as she took on a red-hot Aryna Sabalenka in the Cincinnati Open final. She came up short against the Belarusian 6-3, 7-5, but showed good sportsmanship even in defeat.
A day after her hilarious exchange during the on-court interview where she misheard her finals opponent as “Serena” instead of “Aryna”, Pegula drew an amusing parallel between the two.
After accepting the runner-up trophy, Pegula likened Sabalenka’s booming serve to that of Serena Williams. She went as far as picking the 23-time Grand Slam champion as an opponent over Sabalenka on the given day.
"You had mentioned [Aryna Sabalenka], and I thought you said [Serena Williams], but it felt like Serena today, uh with the way you were serving there for a little bit so I don't know, I may have may have wanted Serena instead of Aryna today," Jessica Pegula said.
Further extending her congratulations to Sabalenka for winning the title, Pegula said the Belarusian and her team had worked hard to get the “amazing” results.
The American then expressed hope of playing many more tough battles against the Belarusian in the future.
"But congrats to you. I mean, obviously, you and your team over there, I know you guys are obviously a great team and uh, put together a lot of hard work and you've had amazing results," Jessica Pegula said.
"And um, yeah, I mean just keep going. It's cool to see and I'm sure we'll have many more battles. It's always a challenge playing you... um, congrats, again," she added.
Jessica Pegula fails to better Serena Williams' showing after Cincinnati Open loss to Aryna Sabalenka
Jessica Pegula came very close to bettering Serena Williams’ incredible 2013 performance during the US Open series. The latter had come into the Cincinnati Open having won the title in Canada, but lost the final to Victoria Azarenka.
Much like Williams, Pegula came into Cincinnati with the Canadian Open title in her bag. She battled against many tough opponents this week, including the likes of Karolina Muchova, Leylah Fernandez, and Paula Badosa, but fell just short against Aryna Sabalenka at the last hurdle.
Pegula had earlier beaten the likes of Amanda Anisimova, Diana Shnaider and Karolina Pliskova en route to the title in Toronto.
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