Despite not winning a point in the second set, Ons Jabeur of Tunisia rebounded to take the Madrid Open title with a 7-5, 0-6, 6-2 victory over Jessica Pegula to win her second career title.
The No. 8-seed Jabeur, who also won at Birmingham last year, also fought off a set point in the opener to take the victory in 1 hour, 54 minutes.
“I have been doing a lot of hard work to see that it’s paying off,” Jabeur said. “I cannot describe how I feel right now.”
Jabeur converted five of her 12 break-point chances and had five aces to just one for Pegula, who jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first set. Jabeur rallied to tie the opening set 4-all and fought off a set point by Pegula at 5-4.
Jabeur won the opening set on her second set point but had her serve broken three times in the second set. Pegula fought off three break points in the opening game of the second set before rolling 6-0.
Three consecutive service breaks gave Jabeur a 2-1 lead to open the third set. She built a 5-2 advantage with another break of serve then served out to win the title.
“When I had the match point, I was like, I had to win it from the beginning, otherwise it’s going to be very tough for me,” Jabeur said. “But I’m very happy and trying to realize that I won today, really.”
In five career meetings between the pair, Jabeur has now won three of them, including each of the last three. Jabeur also leads the WTA with 12 clay-court match victories this season.
Ranked No. 10 at the start of the tournament, Jabeur is expected to vault to a career-best No. 7 on Monday. Pegula is expected to vault to No. 11.
–Field Level Media
