Jessica Pegula prevails in American showdown to reach Montreal semis

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Tennis fans love to set three-set matches but that can cause a headache for tournament organizers.

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That was the case at the National Bank Open women’s championship in Montreal on Friday.

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With two third-round matches held over from Thursday’s rain-drenched schedule, the tournament booked three matches for the day session on the IGA Stadium centre court and hoped they would be finished in time to clear the stadium for the start of the evening session at 7 p.m.

It was wishful thinking.

The first match — one of those third-round holdovers between second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka and 15th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova — lasted nearly three hours before Samsonova completed a 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-3 win over her Russian compatriot.

It appeared that fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula would get the day back on schedule when she raced past her doubles partner, sixth-seeded Coco Gauff, 6-2 in the first set. But to the delight of the crowd, Gauff roared back in the second to win 7-5 before losing a seesaw third set 7-5.

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The match lasted two hours and 21 minutes which meant it was close to 6 p.m. and that 7 p.m. start was merely a suggestion.

Pegula could have told the organizers that she and Gauff would be out there for a while.

“It was a great match and, every time we play, it’s going to be close because we know each other’s games so well,” Pegula said.

This is the third consecutive year in which the 27-year-old Pegula has reached the semifinals of the National Bank Open.

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She said she enjoys playing in Canada. Her cross-border visits date back to when she was growing up in Buffalo where her parents, Terry and Kim, own the NFL Buffalo Bills and the NHL Buffalo Sabres and are doing their best to resurrect the city’s downtown core.

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”It was a tough match for me today,” said Gauff. “I think I started off a little bit slow, but I was able to turn it around for the second set. In the third, I think I could have served a little bit better, been more aggressive in certain moments and less unforced errors, but Jess is not an easy player. If you don’t a great shot, she’s going to punish you for it. Also, you know, she’s not going to give you free balls or free points.”

Pegula and Gauff were the top seeds in the doubles here but they withdrew to give Pegula more rest before her semifinal Saturday afternoon.

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Her opponent will be top-seeded Iga Swiatek of Poland, who defeated American qualifier Danielle Collins.

Swiatek did her best to get the event back on schedule when she breezed through the first set 6-3 but Collins won the second set 6-4 to put the “day” session under the lights and it was 8:42 p.m. when Swiatek won the deciding set 6-2.

Two players who were happy to see the long matches were Samsonova and 12th-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, who upset seventh-seeded Petra Kvitova, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-1, in the other holdover match. They each finished after 3 p.m. and, if the original schedule held, they would have been back on the court for their quarterfinal match with less than four hours’ rest.

As it was, they kicked off that 7 p.m. evening session at 9:15 and Samsonova advanced to the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Bencic. Samsonova will play in the second semfinal Saturday night against the winner of Friday’s final match between third-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan and 10th-seeded Russian Daria Kasatkina.

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