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Jessica Pegula beat world No. 1 Iga Swiatek 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-4 on Saturday to reach the Canadian Open final in Montreal.
Pegula, who is ranked third, will face either Elena Rybakina or Liudmila Samsonova in Sunday’s title match.
Pegula, making her third straight Canadian Open semifinal appearance, broke Swiatek’s serve 11 times and managed her way through the big moments of the match to reach the final for the first time.
“She always makes it tough, but of course it’s incredibly rewarding to beat the No. 1 player in the world and I am sure that will give me a lot of confidence going into tomorrow and the next couple weeks,” Pegula said.
Neither player was able to defend their serve until Pegula held to love for a 4-2 lead. She followed that by going up a double break before producing a pair of aces to close out the first set on her next service game.
Swiatek looked to have settled into a groove as she opened the second set with a pair of breaks for a 3-1 lead. Pegula, however, clawed back and opened up a 5-4 lead after breaking Swiatek for the eighth time but was unable to serve out the match to force a third set.
Swiatek won the first eight points of the third set to build a 2-0 lead, but Pegula kept her cool and twice came back from a break down en route to securing one of the biggest wins of her career.