American Pegula hopes to win hometown tourney

By Harvey Fialkov

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Jessica Pegula believes she is one of the best hard-court players in the world.

But she also believes that her opponent in Saturday’s 3 p.m. final in the Miami Open presented by Itaú, is slightly better.

“I feel like I’m one of them,’’ said Pegula, who has won seven singles titles, all on hard surfaces, including three WTA 1000s events in Toronto, Montreal and Guadalajara. “But she’s just a little bit better than me. Just results-wise, winning Australia [twice], winning the US Open, beating me in Cincinnati and the US Open [final], so it’ s going to be tough. Hopefully, I can get the better of her here. That would be awesome.

“I’m really proud I could put myself up there with one of the best hard-court players in the world and make another final of a 1000 is huge. So, I’m so super-excited to where I put myself. At the beginning of the year, I’ve always felt I could win this tournament. I’ve always had good results here, always gone deep. Sometimes at tournaments you have that feeling and this is one of them.”

Why not? Her family owns the Buffalo Bills and they’ve always treated Hard Rock Stadium as if it was in downtown Buffalo, winning eight of 11 here since 2015, the first full season that her parents Terry and Kim Pegula purchased the club.

Pegula, 31, reached the semis here in 2022 and 2023, only to lose to eventual champion Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina respectively. Despite living in nearby Boca Raton for several years, Pegula makes no bones about it. She’s a diehard Bills fan.

“I may make a few people mad on social media,’’ she joked earlier this week.

Pegula is the oldest player to face a No. 1 in a final of a WTA 1000 event since Li Na played Serena Williams in the 2014 Miami Open. With a victory Pegula will supplant fellow American Coco Gauff at No. 3 in the world, but she realizes that she’s 2-6 against the stronger-serving Belarusian as well as 2-4 on hard courts, including two final losses last year in the Cincinnati (1000) and US Open, Pegula’s first major final of her career.

“I do feel like I’m serving a little bit better. Hopefully, I can serve well Saturday. I think that’s something you have to do against her. She returns really well,’’ said Pegula, who is the third over-30 player to reach the final for three consecutive years.

“I have been returning well, so I always feel like even though she’s one of the best servers in the world, I can give myself a chance maybe to break her. But she’s tough. She’s playing with a lot of confidence. She likes, I think, a little bit quicker hard court as well, playing one-two punch, playing an aggressive game.

“I had chances at the US Open, up 5-3 in that second set. Who knows what would have happened there? I definitely know I’ll get some chances if I play some good tennis.”

Pegula is bidding to become the 16^th American to win this tournament since 1985 and second in a row (Danielle Collins), while Sabalenka would be the second woman from Belarus to win it, joining three-time champion Victoria Azarenka.

This marks the first Miami Open final between Top 5 players since Serena Williams defeated Li Na in 2014 — and the winner will become the first player ranked inside the Top 10 to capture a WTA 1000 title or higher this season.

Sabalenka, 26, still smarting from final losses in the Australian Open to Madison Keys and at Indian Wells to 17-year-old Russian phenom Mirra Andreeva, is hungry for her first Miami Open title and eighth 1000 title. Sixteen of her 18 singles titles have come on hard surfaces, including all three Grand Slam titles (2 Australian Open, 1 US Open).

“We had a lot of tough matches against each other,’’ said Sabalenka, who has yet to lose a set and has been on court for only 5-hours and 43 minutes compared to Pegula’s 9-hours and 44 minutes. “It’s always great battles. Cincinnati was a great level for me, but maybe not really from her. And then [the US Open] final was just like crazy match again. She fought really hard in that second set, and that was a tough match.”

Sabalenka is just the third No. 1 woman to reach the singles finals at the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami Open in the same year, joining Steffi Graf (1994) and Martina Hingis (2000). She’s the sixth woman to reach the finals at Indian Wells and Miami in the same season, joining Kim Clijsters (2005), Maria Sharapova (2006, 2012-13), Azarenka (2016), Swiatek (2022) and Rybakina (2023).

“She’s a great player,’’ Sabalenka said of Pegula. “If we think about serve or groundstrokes or even volleys … everyone can play great shots. I think it’s all about the mental part of the game. Maybe mentally in some of the moments I’m a bit tougher than her. But also, you cannot say that, ‘OK, I’m just tougher than her, that’s it, that’s done,’ you know?

“You have to bring that mental toughness every time.”

By making the Indian Wells final, both Sabalenka and Pegula have assured themselves 650  PIF WTA Ranking points and $597,890 in prize money. Saturday’s champion will take home a total of 1,000 points and $1,124,380.

Sabalenka will remain No. 1, win or lose.

American falls, Russian teen Andreeva into doubles final

The top-seeded duo of American Taylor Townsend and Czech Katerina Siniakova fell to unseeded Cristina Bucsa of Spain and Japan’s Miyu Kato, 6-2, 5-7 (2) in a semifinal match early Friday on Stadium Court.

Townsend and Siniakova won Dubai and the Australian Open this year as well as Wimbledon last year. Siniakova has won 30 doubles titles, including the French Open last year with Coco Gauff. Townsend has won nine doubles titles.

Bucsa and Kato will face Andreeva and countrywoman Diana Shnaider in the final after the Russians downed Xinyu Jiang of China and Fang-Hsien Wu of Taipei, 6-0, 7-5.

Andreeva and Schnaider, 20, won Brisbane earlier this year and also earned a Silver medal at the Paris Olympics last summer.

The doubles final will be held Sunday prior to the men’s 3 p.m. final.