Jessica Pegula, Emma Navarro march toward weekend hardware in Austin and Merida
McCartney Kessler has too, with all three booking semifinal spots at their respective events.
Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro are each within striking distance of celebrating a maiden 2025 title after their latest wins on Friday.
The fourth-ranked Pegula cruised past Anna Blinkova, 6-2, 6-2, at the ATX Open in Austin. The top seed capitalized on five of seven break points to book her second semifinal of the year after opening her season with a runner-up effort in Adelaide.
In the semifinals, Pegula meets Ajla Tomljanovic. The Australian squeaked past Ena Shibahara with 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (8) victory.
Tomljanovic saw six match points come and go in the third set—one at 5-3, two at 6-5 and three when leading the decisive tie-break 6-3—before erasing one of her own at 6-7. The 31-year-old ultimately closed out the qualifier on her eighth opportunity.
Rising American McCartney Kessler meets Greet Minnen for the other championship berth at the 250-level event. Kessler, the No. 5 seed, rallied past Sorana Cirstea, 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, while Minnen finished off Caroline Dolehide, 6-3, 7-5.
At the WTA 500 in Merida, Navarro leads a final-four lineup alongside three unseeded hopefuls.
The 2024 US Open semifinalist dashed Zeynep Sonmez’s hopes of defending her title (the 2024 edition was staged in November) with a 6-4, 6-2 win. A quarterfinalist at this year’s Australian Open, the top-seeded Navarro is seeking her biggest title to date.
Elina Avanesyan awaits after the 22-year-old turned the tide to beat Maya Joint, 4-6, 6-2, 6-0. Daria Saville faces Emiliana Arango in the second semifinal. Saville had trailed second seed Paula Badosa, 1-6, 5-3, when the Spaniard retired with a lower back issue.