Jessica Pegula battles past fellow American Madison Keys to reach Berlin semi-finals

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/pegula-jessica/KdojxrAR/"]Pegula[/a], a 2024 champion on the Berlin grass, won [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/keys-m-QwU996PK/pegula-j-KdojxrAR/?mid=nanHhiBM"]7-6(5), 7-6(8)[/a] in sweltering conditions in the German capital.[/p][p]In their first meeting since Pegula ended [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/keys-madison/QwU996PK/"]Keys[/a]' title defence at the Australian Open in January, both players each broke serve once in the opening set and forced a tiebreak, which Pegula won.[/p][p]Pegula ran out to a 4-2 lead in the second, but Keys fought back to once again set up a tiebreak. Pegula triumphed 10-8 in the tiebreak to extend her winning run to seven without defeat over fellow Americans this calendar year.[/p][embed guid="b7532cd8-d546-4cdb-ab6d-c50504c2ef7b" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-mwNOILBdk" social-type="youtube" /][p]The 32-year-old American will face either world number one [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sabalenka-aryna/vyhksgUB/"]Aryna Sabalenka[/a] or [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bartunkova-nikola/84ILHaZ4/"]Nikola Bartunkova[/a] in the semi-finals on Saturday.[/p][p]Eighth seed [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/noskova-linda/zHMiAkw6/"]Linda Noskova[/a] defeated Spanish wildcard [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/badosa-paula/Wl76rX3I/"]Paula Badosa[/a] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/badosa-gibert-paula-Wl76rX3I/noskova-l-zHMiAkw6/?mid=UDGZzQH8"]6-1, 6-3[/a] in Friday's second quarter-final.[/p][p]Later on Friday, world number eight [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/monfils-elina/jyngIesG/"]Elina Svitolina[/a] takes on [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/eala-alexandra/ppu9X7PH/"]Alexandra Eala[/a], who eliminated [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rybakina-elena/UDzElXdm/"]Elena Rybakina[/a] on Thursday.[/p]