© Getty Images Sport – Matthew Stockman
Jessica Pegula went out for a drink after a heavy WTA Finals final loss and joked that Iga Swiatek took her to the “Iga bakery factory.” On Monday, 29-year-old Pegula suffered a 1-6 0-6 loss to Swiatek in Cancun, in what was her first final at the WTA Finals.
Swiatek, who has won 20+ sets with a 6-0 scoreline in consecutive seasons, capped off her final match of the year by giving a bagel to Pegula. “Ended the year through the Iga bakery lol. Jokes aside. 2023 in the books,” Pegula captioned her Instagram Story.
Jessica Pegula consoles herself with a glass of wine
“Ended the year through the Iga bakery factory lol”
😭
(📸 @JPegula) pic.twitter.com/AN27Zo7yrR — We Are Tennis (@WeAreTennis) November 7, 2023
Pegula gave credit to Swiatek
After Pegula served out the second game of the match, she and Swiatek were tied to one game apiece.
At that moment, hardly anyone could predict that Swiatek would win the next 13 games and seal a win in such an impressive way. After the match, Pegula acknowledged that Swiatek delivered good tennis while she struggled with her own tennis.
“She played really solid. I felt like she really was putting a lot of pressure on me. And I think I just was overplaying a lot today. I don’t know why. But it just was one of those days where I felt like I was going for too much,” Pegula said.
Going into the final, Pegula was 4-0 in Cancun. But Swiatek delivered a major performance to prevent Pegula from leaving Cancun with her first WTA Finals title. “I’m just really happy and super proud of myself. This week has been not easy, but I feel like it’s a kind of a reflection of the whole season.
So I’m just happy that I could cope with everything well, and I kind of used my experience from all these years to perform well here,” Swiatek said. Meanwhile, Pegula’s 2023 season is over and the American will now take some time to rest before kicking off her preparations for the next season.
