Top seed Jessica Pegula and former champion Madison Keys will square off in an all-American women’s final at the Adelaide International ahead of the Australian Open.
The two good friends secured contrasting passage through to the championship match in Friday’s semifinals, with Pegula edging the tricky Yulia Putintseva 7-6(4), 6-3 and Keys progessing to the final when Liudmila Samsonova retired in the third set of their match with an abdominal injury. After losing the first set, an ailing Samsonova lost pace and placement on her serve late in the second set, and a break from 40-0 down at 5-5 pushed things quicky in Keys’ favor.
The 2022 winner in Adelaide was leading 5-7, 7-5, 3-0 when Samsonova retired.
“It’s obviously not how you want to win a match, with a retirement, but I’m happy I was able to stick around and just, kind of, tough it out,” Keys said afterwards.
In the second semifinal, Pegula turned the first set tiebreak around, and rode that momtentum through to improve to 3-0 all-time against Putintseva. After letting an early break lead slip in the opener, Pegula trailed 4-2 in the tiebreak, but a “lucky” break from a net cord helped her level at 4-4 en route to winning the set.
