Jessica Pegula vs. Diana Shnaider | 2026 Washington, DC Semifinal | WTA Match Highlights

All been top five, top eight players in the world. Oh, she's made it. Brilliant defense from Schneider. Nicely done back behind. Beating her arm. Great footwork there from Jess Pigou. I love that she went for the volley. She's number nine. First serve points win. She does win a lot of points behind her serve. That ball moving away from her. Great point from Jess Pigou. Inside-out drive volley, yeah. Good. Ran away with it in the third. Again, the forehand from Schneider did all the job. I understand the frustration in Pigou's face to lose the point. Didn't Pigou do well to pick up the drop, the return that was slightly fortuitous. Such good tennis. And Pigou, perhaps, starting to find a rhythm. Fabulous backhand from Pigou. A stunning comeback from Jess Pigou. Who reels up five games on the bounce. To recover and take the opener here in Washington. Seven games to five. Ten of the last twelve games have been won by Jess Pigou. Who finds herself now The American number one. Puts her ticket to a second final in the nation's capital. And does it in some style. A brilliant comeback in the opening set. Schneider threatened to produce one of her own in the second. But the world number three. It is. That's moving on. In straight sets. She's through five and four. First of all, congratulations. Through to another final here in Washington, D.C. Jess, what were the adjustments you made in that first set down 2-5? Yeah, I think, you know, 2-5 sounds dramatic, but it's only one break. As you just saw there at the end, it was tough closing it out. Yeah, I think, I mean, I just capitalized on a couple errors. I think I started just trying to find the rhythm on the return against the lefty. Kind of a breezy stadium. It's always really hard. Yeah, I mean, like, I didn't think I was that far off. It was just a couple points here and there. So just trying to pick up my energy and, again, try and be a little bit more aggressive. How much does it help that you've actually played against Diana three times. You've actually never lost to her. How much does that factor into those moments? I think it helps. You never know against an opponent on any given day. But I do feel like sometimes when you just feel like you have an upper edge against somebody sometimes. And I know what that feels like against people that I've never beaten. And sometimes it feels like you're so close. So, I mean, we had a really good match in Charleston where she was playing some really good clay court tennis. And then went on to have a great French Open. So she's a really good player. I think a very underrated all-around player too. And Jess, what does it mean? As I already mentioned back in 2019, this was your very first WTA event win on the tour. So what does it mean for you to be back in another final here? I mean, it's awesome. Thank you so much for coming out. I've seen so many of the same people here at this event from when I first won it all the way up until now. And it's been a few years. But it's just an honor to be back in the final. It's one of my favorite tournaments. I love playing in front of the fans here. They always give me so much energy. So thank you guys. And Jess, just real quick. Obviously the next match between Ayala and Naomi coming up. Osaka, give me your thoughts on what you expect in that match. And maybe what you expect tomorrow. Yeah, I don't know. I haven't played Naomi in a little while. But I played Alex, I don't know, last year or something like that at Miami. Right before she started her big run. And I know that she has a huge following. She's a really nice girl. Yeah, see? Yeah, she's awesome. So she's going to be tough. She's got nothing to lose. And Naomi also, you know, on the hard courts. I mean, we know that she's one of the best in the world on the surface. So either way, it's going to be a really, really tough final. But I'm excited to go out there and try to win the title tomorrow. Well, you have a lot of fans here, Jessica Pagula yourself. Through to the final. Jessica Pagula.