Pegula beats Gauff before saving 5 match points to win Berlin title

In just her second tournament back after missing the WTA Tour's European clay swing with a rib injury, Jessica Pegula won the Berlin title Sunday in dramatic fashion. The American pulled double duty on the WTA 500 tournament's final day, beating Coco Gauff in a rain-delayed semifinal before saving five match points to edge Anna Kalinskaya in the championship round.

Against her longtime doubles partner and compatriot Gauff, Pegula earned a 7-5, 7-6(2) win to score her first Top 10 win of the year and improve to 4-1 in their head-to-head series. As tight as that match was, it was a breeze compared to the final.

In a 6-7(0), 6-4, 7-6(3) victory against Kalinskaya, Pegula saved five match points in the final set to win her fifth career title and her first of 2024. After battling back from 4-1 down in the third, Pegula saved four match points at 5-4 and another at 6-5. From 3-2 down in the decisive tiebreak, Pegula's consistency under pressure helped her win the last five points of the contest.

"I knew I could play well on this surface and giving myself a couple of extra weeks on grass clearly paid off," Pegula said of her Berlin run. "I played some really good tennis this week and I feel like I beat some really good girls, especially on grass. To be able to gut out a win like that is cool."

The victory solidified Pegula's place at No. 5 in the WTA rankings, two spots off her career high of No. 3, first achieved in 2022. Next up for the American is Wimbledon, where she reached the singles quarterfinals for the first time last season.