Jessica Pegula told off an interviewer ahead of her Charleston Open quarter-final clash with Danielle Collins. The 31-year-old booked her place in the last eight of the tournament after seeing off Ajla Tomljanovic on Thursday.
Pegula has enjoyed a decent start to the year and won the seventh WTA title of her career in March after overcoming McCartney Kessler in the final of the ATX Open. She went on to reach the Miami Open final last month but missed out on silverware after being defeated by Aryna Sabalenka. And she is eyeing up more title success in Charleston.
Pegula dropped just three games in her opening match against Iryna Shymanovich in South Carolina. And after breezing to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Tomljanovic in her second encounter she was interviewed on the court.
Attention soon turned to her clash with Collins as the American was told she had won all five of her matches against her compatriot.
And Pegula laughed as she told the interviewer: “Why would you say that? I hope I win, or it’s your fault.”
The interviewer doubled down as he explained: “As a matter of fact she’s only gotten one set off of you in all of those five meetings. Not to add any pressure but what that means is that you’ve got a really winning record against her.”
He then added: “I’m trying to get my foot out of my mouth here so help me out.”
Pegula teased: “I know, I’m sorry, I’m being hard on you. But seriously you can’t just throw that out there. Haven’t you seen Danielle, she’s feisty. Now she’s going to be mad at you and she’s going to want to kill me.”
The interviewer exclaimed: “Well hold on a minute, now you’re being feisty.” And he joked to the crowd: “It’s my last day everybody, see you next year.”
Pegula finished the 2024 season strongly, having reached the US Open final and securing her place at the WTA Finals.
She has climbed to No. 4 in the world rankings and will have her next opportunity to win the first Grand Slam of her career at the French Open later this spring.
Collins, meanwhile, is ranked at No. 22 in the world and has won four WTA titles during her career. She reached the Australian Open final in 2022 but has failed to progress beyond the fourth round in her last 12 appearances at Grand Slams.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk