Top seed Jessica Pegula, former champion Madison Keys to square off in Adelaide final

Top seed Jessica Pegula and former champion Madison Keys will square off in an all-American women's final at the Adelaide International ahead of the Australian Open.

The two good friends secured contrasting passage through to the championship match in Friday's semifinals, with Pegula edging the tricky Yulia Putintseva 7-6(4), 6-3 and Keys progessing to the final when Liudmila Samsonova retired in the third set of their match with an abdominal injury. After losing the first set, an ailing Samsonova lost pace and placement on her serve late in the second set, and a break from 40-0 down at 5-5 pushed things quicky in Keys' favor.

The 2022 winner in Adelaide was leading 5-7, 7-5, 3-0 when Samsonova retired.

"It's obviously not how you want to win a match, with a retirement, but I'm happy I was able to stick around and just, kind of, tough it out," Keys said afterwards.

In the second semifinal, Pegula turned the first set tiebreak around, and rode that momtentum through to improve to 3-0 all-time against Putintseva. After letting an early break lead slip in the opener, Pegula trailed 4-2 in the tiebreak, but a "lucky" break from a net cord helped her level at 4-4 en route to winning the set.

"Even when I practice with her, she'll throw in the underarm serve. I thought for sure that was coming at some point, I was on my toes for lots of drop shots," Pegula said. "I knew she was playing good tennis and was going to be tricky and break up the rhythm a little bit, but I thought I handled it pretty well. [I got] a little bit lucky in the tiebreak, but I was able to play some good tennis in the end."

According to the WTA, Saturday's third career meeting between the two former US Open finalists will be the fifth all-American singles final of the decade, each of which has included either Pegula or Keys. Pegula bids for her seventh career title, while Keys seeks her ninth.

"I was literally texting [Keys] 20 minutes before," Pegula added. "I ran out of electrolytes. I was like, 'Hey, can I borrow some? I know we're playing tomorrow, but I need some hydration!' ... We're playing some good tennis. The way I would like it is for us to meet in the finals every time."

Keys and Pegula have split their two previous meetings,both on hard courts. Pegula won 6-4, 7-5 in San Diego in 2022, but Keys took a commanding 6-1, 6-3 win in the 2023 US Open fourth round.

There will be no all-American final on the men's side, though, after Felix Auger-Aliassime upset top seed Tommy Paul 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-4 to advace to a title match with No. 2 seed Sebastian Korda. Korda, playing his first tournament since the US Open and October elbow surgery, defeated Miomir Kecmanovic 6-3, 7-6(4) to advance to the Adelaide final for a second time. Two years ago, Korda was runner-up to Novak Djokovic at the tournament.

“I just love playing here. I think this court suits me pretty well,” Korda said after a match in which he never faced a break point. “It was a great match for sure. There are still some things I can work on, but hopefully I can keep playing this way, keep having fun and keep enjoying myself.”

Auger-Aliassime's two-hour, 45-minute "battle" not only put him through to his 16th career ATP singles final, but denied Paul a projected Top 10 debut on Monday.

"It was about physical effort, mental effort, because it was match with lots of ups and downs,” he said in his on-court interview. “I feel like it was not the best level from both players, but sometimes matches are like this. You have to battle with what you have and find a way through, and I’m really happy I did today.”