GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Third seed Jessica Pegula overcame a sluggish start to breeze past Victoria Azarenka 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 on Saturday and make the final of the Guadalajara Open, where she will meet either Greek fourth seed Maria Sakkari or Czech Marie Bouzkova.

The 28-year-old American, chasing her second career title, found herself in an early hole to the Belarusian former world No. 1 as Azarenka sealed the early break on the way to a 3-0 lead in the opening set.

But Pegula would soon find her rhythm, breaking back to send the set to a tie-break, which she took 7-3.

“Vika is always tough no matter what, especially on hard courts, especially in faster conditions,” Pegula said. “I’ve lost to her the last couple of times, I knew it was going to be tough. I’m just glad, in a semifinal as well, that I was able to hold on to that first set.”

“I thought it was really important to not let her get any momentum or more confidence by winning an easy first set, so I’m definitely really happy with how I handled that situation.

“[Being] able to take that first set and start off strong in the second against someone as experienced as her is always going to give me a lot of confidence.”

Having let the first set slip away Azarenka unravelled while Pegula stepped up her play, breaking the two-time Australian Open champion twice as she steam rolled through the second set to reach her second final of the year.

She reached the final in Madrid, which was also a WTA 1000 event, losing to Ons Jabeur.

“I feel really excited, really happy about my performance today. Happy the way I hung in that first set and was still able to win it,” said Pegula.

“My second final this year means a lot, especially kind of the last tournament of the year to finish really strong, win or lose tomorrow, is just kind of the icing on the cake of two really good years. I’m really proud of myself.”

This was her 40th win in WTA main draws in 2022, behind only world No. 1 Iga Swiatek (62) and Jabeur (46) while tying Daria Kasatkina (40).

She had to wait to discover her final opponent as rain forced play to be suspended in the second semi-final after Sakkari won a tight opening set 7-5 that took 83 minutes.

Curiously, Pegula has matching 1-3 win-loss records against both Sakkari and Bouzkova. The result of their postponed match on Sunday was ongoing at press time.

Pegula’s path to the final has included victories over four Grand Slam winners: a second round win over Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina followed US Open champions Bianca Andreescu and Sloan Stephens and Azarenka.

But the world No. 5 said there were still some nerves heading into the title clash.

“At the same time you’re happy to be there,” Pegula said. “You have pressure and you also don’t have pressure because when you start a tournament your goal is to get to the end and to give yourself a chance to win a title.

“When you finally make it to the last stage, you get more excited, nervous. But it depends on the day. I’m sure I’ll see how I feel walking on court tomorrow, how my warm-up feels.” REUTERS