Korea Open: Pegula wins second title of the season
The American defeated Yue Yuan to win her fourth career singles title
Jessica Pegula at the WTA Korea Open, 2023
Image Credit: Ahn Young-joon/AP/SIPA
American Jessica Pegula, the top seed, won the Korea Open tournament by beating Chinese Yue Yuan 6-2, 6-3 in Seoul on Sunday.
The world No 4 needed one hour and 24 minutes for the win, overcoming a brief lapse in the second set when Yuan pulled back from 4-1 down to 4-3 before Pegula bounced back to complete the second set 6-3.
This was the second title of the season for Pegula, who won in Montreal in August, and the fourth of her career. The American was also a runner-up in Tokyo a few weeks ago during the Asian swing on the WTA Tour.
The American, who has already qualified for the season-ending WTA Finals in Cancun in singles and doubles, defeated Slovak Viktoria Hruncakova (6-2, 6-4), Ashlyn Krueger (6-3, 6-1), Claire Liu (4-6, 6-3, 6-0) and Belgian Yanina Wickmayer (6-4, 6-3) earlier in the tournament. This was also her 52nd match win of the year – second most on the WTA Tour after Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka.
In the previous rounds, Yuan, ranked No 128, beat Dutch qualifier Arianne Hartono (6-1, 6-2), Slovenian Kaja Juvan (6-4, 4-1 ret.), No 4 seed Marie Bouzkova (7-5, 7-6 (7)) and American Emina Bektas (6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2).
