Published August 2, 2026 6:04am <\/p>\n
Add GMA on Google <\/a> <\/p>\n Make this your preferred source to get more updates from this publisher on Google. <\/p>\n Top-seeded American Jessica Pegula beat Russia’s Diana Shnaider 7-5 6-4 on Saturday and set up a Washington DC Open final against the Philippines’ Alexandra Eala<\/a>, who defeated Japan’s Naomi Osaka 6-4 6-2.<\/a><\/p>\n World number three Pegula is seeking her third title of the year and 12th of her career after winning in Dubai and Charleston. The 32-year-old won her first WTA title in Washington in 2019.<\/p>\n The 22-year-old Shnaider, who reached this year’s French Open semi-finals, was bidding for her sixth WTA title. She raced into a 5-2 lead in the opening set, but Pegula began her comeback by holding serve before breaking in the ninth game.<\/p>\n The American then held to love to level the set at 5-5, broke again in the next game and served out the set when Shnaider sent a forehand wide.<\/p>\n Pegula broke for a 3-2 lead in the second set and extended her advantage to 5-2 with another break before closing out the match with a forehand winner after 87 minutes.<\/p>\n “I just capitalized on a couple of areas,” Pegula said. “I think I started just trying to find the rhythm on the return. I didn’t think I was that far off … So, just trying to pick up my energy and again, try and be a little bit more aggressive.”<\/p>\n Eala moved within one win of her first WTA title after delivering a composed performance against four-times Grand Slam champion Osaka.<\/p>\n The 21-year-old, playing in her third semi-final this year, reached the last four after beating second seed Elina Svitolina<\/a> for her sixth win of the season over a top-10 opponent.<\/p>\n