Jean-Guy Fugère
On Saturday night at IGA Stadium, World No.71 Camila Giorgi of Italy qualified for the final of the National Bank Open presented by Rogers when she disposed of Jessica Pegula of the US, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
For Giorgi, the victory is her second—and perhaps her most significant—in five clashes with Pegula. She enters the first WTA 1000 final of her career with a bang
In the two-hour match chock-full of ups and downs, Giorgi made fewer errors, played more consistently and dominated her rival on her returns.
In the first set, Giorgi adjusted much quicker to the blowing wind than her opponent and sent Pegula and her achy knee running all across the court. But in the second set, the winds changed. The American came back to life and fought her way to a third.
The Italian then showed every facet of her game and stunned Pegula, who ran out of ammunition and surrendered.
Giorgi secured 57 points versus 43 on serve and a total of 108 versus 81 overall. She scored four aces (one for Pegula) but made 9 double faults (8 for Pegula).
Tomorrow, Camila Giorgi faces Karolina Pliskova of Czechia, who has won five of their eight showdowns.
Dabrowski in the final
Much was said and written about the Canadian players competing at IGA Stadium this week, but one homegrown hero has gone all the way at the National Bank Open.
On Sunday, Gabriela Dabrowski and her partner Luisa Stefani of Brazil compete in the doubles final. Awaiting them on Centre Court will be sixth seeds Andreja Klepac of Slovenia and Darija Jurak of Croatia.
On Saturday night, fifth seeds Dabrowski and Stefani defeated Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elena Rybanika of Kazakhstan (6-2, 6-3) at the outcome of 61 minutes of play.
The eventual winners broke their opponents five times and suffered the same fate only twice. Tensions were high when they let a 4-1 lead slip, but they got things back on track to lock up the win.
The day before, Stefani and Dabrowski, who holds 10 WTA doubles crowns, caused a huge upset when they crushed first seeds Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka.
