Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, June 20, 2026
Photo credit: Berlin Tennis Open Facebook
Rain suspended play during today’s second-set tiebreaker in Berlin.
When showers subsided, Jessica Pegula unleashed a shot-making storm to bury world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on the Berlin grass.
Dishing a final-set bagel, a sharp Pegula dismissed Sabalenka 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-0 to charge into her 23rd career final at the Berlin Tennis Open.
It is Pegula’s third career grass-court final, including her second final in Berlin where she won the 2024 championship.
The third-seeded Pegula will play for her third grass-court crown on Sunday when she meets either eighth-seeded Czeck Linda Noskova or Filipina wild card Alexandra Eala in the final.
It’s another perplexing final-set collapse from Sabalenka, who lost to Diana Shnaider 6-3, 5-7, 0-6 in the Roland Garros quarterfinals earlier this month. In that stunning defeat, Sabalenka spiraled losing 10 consecutive games in a free fall she could not stall.
“Yeah, I don’t know when was the last time that happened to me that I lost 10 games in a row,” Sabalenka said in Paris. “I don’t know. I guess mentally I got into very deep, deep, dark hole over there, and I just couldn’t get back mentally on track.”
Today, Pegula was mentally tougher at crunch time in advancing to her third final of the 2026 season after title runs in Dubai and Charleston. Pegula is playing for her 12th career title and for her third championship on a third different surface.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka fell to 33-5 on the season suffering only her second Top 10 loss of 2026.
A precise Pegula won 11 of 13 first-serve points in the final set.
Struggling to defend her second serve, Sabalenka won just one of eight second-serve points in the decisive set.
In the first set, Sabalenka stormed back from triple break point down, saving five break points in all, in a gritty seventh game that saw her hold for 3-4.
Swooping forward, Pegula belted a backhand drive volley down the line, wrapping up a strong 46-minute opening set.
Leaving the court to reset, Sabalenka came right back and exploited Pegula’s first double fault for a 2-0 second-set lead.
Serving at 2-5, Pegula was down double-set point, but denied both set points. Sabalenka steered a relatively routine short backhand pass wide on the first set point and Pegula eventually held for 3-5.
Sliding a drive down the line, Pegula broke back in the ninth game for 4-5.
In the second-set tiebreaker, Pegula seized a 3-1 lead then came the rains prompting chair umpire Marija Cicak to suspend play. When play resumed, a revitalized Sabalenka ran off six of the next seven points to reinforce her reputation as tiebreak queen and force a final set.
Driving the ball down the line, Pegula converted her fourth break point to break for a 2-0 lead in the decider and never looked back.