The women’s world no.1 Iga Swiatek was defeated by Jessica Pegula in the Canadian Open semifinals with scores of 6-2 6-7 (4-7) 6-4.
Swiatek, the current French and US Open champion, put up a sloppy performance against the American.
The fourth seed Pegula broke Swiatek’s serve 11 times as she finished the match in two hours and 30 minutes by defeating the 22-year-old Pole.
Following the postponement of the second semi-final in Montreal between third-seeded Kazakh player Elena Rybakina and Russian Liudmila Samsonova due to bad weather, Pegula will have to wait to see who her final opponent will be.
Five consecutive service breaks started the frantic opening set before Pegula was able to hold and grab the lead 4-2.
Before serving, the 29-year-old American broke the four-time Grand Slam champion once again, and she finished with an incredible ace through the middle of the court.
Pegula served to win the match at 5-4 in the second set, but Swiatek forced a tie-break and scored five games in a row to force a third set.
The point was replayed as Cotton Eye Joe’s chorus mysteriously appeared as Swiatek was about to complete a smash with Pegula ahead 4-3 in the breaker. The Rednex novelty anthem Cotton Eye Joe started blasting out of the court speakers during a play during the second set tie-break, which caused the match to be interrupted.
After taking a 4-2 lead in the fourth set due to two Pegula breaks, Swiatek’s service game failed, allowing the world number three to tie the match.
A strong service game gave Pegula a 5-4 lead, and Swiatek missed a forehand wide on match point to give her opponent a trip to the championship match.
