Korea Open: Pegula wins second title of the season
The American defeated Yue Yuan to win her fourth career singles title
American Jessica Pegula, the top seed, won the Korea Open tournament by beating Chinese Yue Yuan 6-2, 6-3 in Seoul on Sunday.
The world No 4 needed one hour and 24 minutes for the win, overcoming a brief lapse in the second set when Yuan pulled back from 4-1 down to 4-3 before Pegula bounced back to complete the second set 6-3.
This was the second title of the season for Pegula, who won in Montreal in August, and the fourth of her career. The American was also a runner-up in Tokyo a few weeks ago during the Asian swing on the WTA Tour.
The American, who has already qualified for the season-ending WTA Finals in Cancun in singles and doubles, defeated Slovak Viktoria Hruncakova (6-2, 6-4), Ashlyn Krueger (6-3, 6-1), Claire Liu (4-6, 6-3, 6-0) and Belgian Yanina Wickmayer (6-4, 6-3) earlier in the tournament. This was also her 52nd match win of the year – second most on the WTA Tour after Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka.
In the previous rounds, Yuan, ranked No 128, beat Dutch qualifier Arianne Hartono (6-1, 6-2), Slovenian Kaja Juvan (6-4, 4-1 ret.), No 4 seed Marie Bouzkova (7-5, 7-6 (7)) and American Emina Bektas (6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2).