World No.10 Ons Jabeur won her second WTA title with a 7-5 0-6 6-2 victory over Jessica Pegula in the final of the Mutua Madrid Open.
The 12th-seeded Pegula opened the final with a 4-1 lead, having converted her sole break point and saving all the four she faced. In the seventh game, Jabeur brought the set back on serve. At 5-4, Pegula had a set point as a result of Jabeur’s errant forehands, but the Tunisian saved that set point to level to 5-5, then broke the American at love in the following game and closed out the set, 7-5.
Statistically, the situation became very grim for Pegula, as Jabeur held a perfect 16-0 record in 2022 after winning the opening set in matches. However, Pegula made us think she would spoil Jabeur’s perfect record as she bageled the Tunisian in the second set.
The third set opened with three breaks of serve, with Jabeur having the upper hand. Later into the decider, the eighth seed reinforced the lead with another break and won the WTA 1000 title on clay in Madrid.
Besides Pegula, Jabeur’s list of defeated opponents at the 2022 Madrid Open includes: Jasmine Paolini, Varvara Gracheva, Belinda Bencic, Simona Halep, and Ekaterina Alexandrova.
The Madrid Open triumph will take Jabeur to the No.7 WTA ranking. Pegula would have made a Top 10 debut with the title, but now she’ll rise from No.14 to No.11.
I was very disappointed that TC Live did not show Ons receiving the trophy! This was the women’s championship
match, afterall.