Jessica Pegula races past Liudmila Samsonova in less than an hour to win Montreal
Samsonova #Samsonova
With two Top 5-wins already for the week, a fourth match in less than 36 hours proved a bridge too far for Samsonova, who was competing in her first WTA 1000 final.
The 15th seed defeated No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka and No. 12 seed Belinda Bencic back-to-back on Friday before rain pushed her semifinal against No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon; she beat the Kazakh 1-6, 6-1, 6-3, but lost 11 straight games against Pegula, whom she was 1-2 all-time against, in three three-setters, entering the final.
In five matches entering the final, Samsonova logged 10 hours on court; in addition to her three-setters against Sabalenka, which lasted nearly three hours, and Rybakina, she also went the distance against Katerina Siniakova in the first round.
More to come…