No.1 seed Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys set the fifth all-American Hologic WTA Tour final of this decade with semifinal victories at the Adelaide International on Friday.

Pegula improved to 3-0 overall against Yulia Putintseva with a 7-6(4), 6-3 win in 1 hour and 29 minutes. Earlier, Keys advanced when Liudmila Samsonova was forced to retire due to an abdominal injury trailing 5-7, 7-5, 3-0.

Adelaide: Scores | Schedule | Draws

Saturday’s title match will be the 15th WTA singles final for Pegula, the 14th for Keys, and the third instalment of the rivalry between the good friends. They have split two previous meetings, with Pegula winning 6-4, 7-5 in the 2022 San Diego quarterfinals and Keys taking revenge 6-1, 6-3 in the 2023 US Open fourth round.

Each of this decade’s previous four all-American finals has involved either Pegula or Keys. Pegula lost to Serena Williams at Auckland 2020, and defeated Amanda Anisimova at Toronto 2024. Keys triumphed over Alison Riske-Amritraj at Adelaide 2022 and over Danielle Collins at Strasbourg 2024. Pegula’s overall record in finals is 6-8, while Keys’ is 8-5.

“I was literally texting [Keys] 20 minutes before,” Pegula told the crowd in her on-court interview. “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.”

Despite breaking Putintseva in the opening game, Pegula remained under pressure for the rest of the first set as the Kazakhstani came up with a series of terrific lobs and passing shots, breaking back for 4-4 and taking a 4-2 lead in the tiebreak. But Pegula levelled the tiebreak after a net cord turned the eighth point in her favor, and pulled away in the second set as her serve-plus-one patterns went up a level to reach her first final since the US Open last year.

“Box of tricks is very accurate,” Pegula said in her on-court interview when asked to describe Putintseva’s game style. “Even when I practise 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. 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. A little bit lucky in the tiebreak, but I was able to play some good tennis in the end.”

Keys advances after Samsonova retires injured

After narrowly losing the first set, World No.20 Keys battled to a gritty second-set win before an ailing Samsonova retired while down a double-break in the decider. After a loss in their first career meeting in 2021, Keys has won her last five encounters with 26th-ranked Samsonova.

“Obviously not how you want to win a match, with a retirement, but I think I was very proud of myself today, being able to stay in the match,” Keys said afterwards. “She came out playing so well at the start. … Being able to just tough it out and staying in the match as long as I could, very happy about that.”

The American has now gotten past four consecutive Top 30 players to reach this week’s WTA 500 final. She has defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia, defending champion Jelena Ostapenko, No.3 seed Daria Kasatkina and now Samsonova to book a spot in the championship match. 

Keys will now go for her ninth career title, and her first hard-court title since 2022, when she won a WTA 250 title in this very city of Adelaide. She will face either No.1 seed Jessica Pegula or Yulia Putintseva in Saturday’s final.

Keys fought back from 3-0 down in the first set and saved four set points to get back on serve at 5-4. However, Samsonova grabbed four more set points at 6-5, eventually sealing the set with a powerful rally forehand — although she took a medical time-out directly after that set.

Both players hit more winners than unforced errors in the second set, and Keys’ ratio was particularly stellar, with 17 winners to just four unforced errors. At 5-5, Samsonova let a 40-0 lead slip away as Keys obtained the only break of the set. In the next game, Keys slammed a backhand winner to tie the match.

In the third set, Keys broke Samsonova twice in succession, grabbing the 3-0 lead with a return winner just before Samsonova stopped play. Despite losing the first set, Keys still finished the match with 37 winners to 14 unforced errors.