Jessica Pegula beat world number one Iga Swiatek 6-2 6-7(4) 6-4 on Saturday to reach the Canadian Open final in Montreal, where ongoing rain delayed the start of the other semi-final between Elena Rybakina and Liudmila Samsonova.
American world number three Pegula, playing in her third consecutive Canadian Open semi-final, broke Swiatek’s serve 11 times and managed her way through the big moments of the match better than the four-times Grand Slam winner.
“She always makes it tough but of course it’s incredibly rewarding to beat the number one player in the world and I am sure that will give me a lot of confidence going into tomorrow and the next couple weeks,” Pegula said securing a spot in her first Canadian Open final.
Neither player was able to defend their serve until Pegula held to love for a 4-2 lead and the American followed that by going up a double break before producing a pair of aces to close out the first set on her next service game.
Swiatek looked to have settled into a groove as she opened the second set with her first service hold of the day followed by a pair of breaks for a 3-1 lead.
Pegula, however, clawed back and opened up a 5-4 lead after breaking Swiatek for the eighth time but was unable to serve out the match as the Pole levelled the frame before going on to force the decider.
Swiatek won the first eight points of the third set to build a 2-0 lead but Pegula kept cool and twice came back from a break down en route to securing one of the biggest wins of her career.
Rybakina reached the semis with a win over Daria Kasatkina in a match that lasted nearly three and a half hours and ended just before 3 a.m. on Saturday.
Samsonova booked her place in the final four with a win over Belinda Bencic during Friday’s night session after beating Aryna Sabalenka in the day session.
Samsonova has won both her previous meetings with Rybakina, including a first-round clash in Montreal two years ago.

Cincinnati draw breakdown: Wozniacki to face Svitolina in first round
The stage is set for the second straight WTA 1000 hardcourt event of the summer, as the main draw for the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, Ohio, was released on Sunday evening. Main-draw play begins today (August 14).
An enticing first-round clash was set when Caroline Wozniacki and Elina Svitolina, both making comebacks in 2023 after maternity leave, were drawn against each other in the opening round.
The Top 8 seeds all have first-round byes in the 56-player draw.
World No 1 Iga Swiatek tops the draw, and she could possibly have a quick rematch with Danielle Collins in the second round, if Collins can get past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round.
Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams is in the same section, where she will meet No 16 seed Veronika Kudermetova in the first round.
Also in the first quarter is defending champion Caroline Garcia. No 6 Garcia’s title defence will start against either 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens or Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the second round, and she could meet No 10 Marketa Vondrousova, the Wimbledon champion, in the third round.
No 4 seed Elena Rybakina heads up the second quarter, where she will face either Jelena Ostapenko or Karolina Pliskova in the second round. Rybakina could potentially meet No 13 seed Belinda Bencic in the Round of 16.