Seventh seed Jessica Pegula lost to Simona Halep 6-2, 3-6, 4-6 in the semi-final of the Canadian Open
Two-time champion Simona Halep advanced to her fourth National Bank Open final after rallying to defeat No.7 Jessica Pegula 2-6, 6-3 6-4 in the semifinals. Toronto is Halep’s first final since winning the Melbourne 250 in January and the biggest final for the former No.1 since winning in Rome in 2020. The win assures Halep will return to the Top 10 when the WTA Tour rankings are updated on Monday.
It was a closely contested encounter with Jessica Pegula often losing her cool. The moment of the match came when Pegula, who cut a frustrated figure, referred to Halep as a ‘pusher’. “She’s pushing, she is such a pusher”, Pegula shouted on the court, referring to her opponent, Halep.
Speaking after the match, Halep said – “I changed a little bit the tactics. In the first set, it was a little bit too fast. She was hitting super strong and I didn’t feel the rhythm. Then I just calmed down and I tried to just push her back a little bit more.”
There were mixed reactions from fans over the incidents. Let us take a look at some of the most interesting responses.
“I can see her mouth say both pushing and pusher but either way she is upset that simona is pushing lol”, who clearly, saw the funny side of it.
“There are many styles of play. I do not even agree that Simona is a so-called pusher, but the goal is to win matches and not just to hit the ball hard. People at both the club and pro level who complain about pushers need to own their about why they are losing these matches”, tweeted another fan.
“LOLLL have some respect jessica. U could only wish to have accomplished as much as Halep has throughout her career”, wrote another offended fan.
“On what planet is this girl living? In the second and third set she only existed beacause of halep poor serve”, wrote another fan.
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