Jessica Pegula was beaten by Elena Rybakina last night, knocked out of the Miami Open at the quarter-final stage.
It marks the third defeat that the American has suffered to this same opponent in 2026 alone, and a fifth loss in total to the new world number two.
This has further established the notion that both Elena Rybakina` and Aryna Sabalenka are pulling away from the rest of the WTA Tour, having shared almost all of the sport’s big titles over the last few months.
Jessica Pegula, speaking after her latest loss, has now explained what makes them so great.
Jessica Pegula discusses Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka’s rivalry
She began by telling reporters: “I mean, I feel like they’re just so confident right now in, like, big pressure points. I mean, the amount of times they go for big second serves, or they go for big returns, or they hit a big one-two punch, like, serve, first ball, like rip a winner on a break point.
“Like, it takes a lot of confidence to do that, and I feel like those points, they’re just playing really confident, at least when I played Aryna a lot, you know, over the last couple years, and now Elena quite a lot in the last couple months, I just always feel like that’s what they do really well.”
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Pegula then pointed out Rybakina’s serve, unsurprisingly, adding: “I mean her serve every time I play her. I always just feel like, I mean, she had 15 aces today. Like, I was looking at her other matches and she had like three, or one, and then today she hits 15, but maybe that’s…
“I should give myself some credit. Maybe she knows she has to serve bigger and go for her spots more because I’m a good returner. I don’t know, but I would say for her, whenever I play her, the difference to me is like the serve and first ball, Aryna as well.
“Their ability to be confident with their patterns and their serve and the one-two punch, no matter what the score is, just puts a lot of pressure on you when you’re playing against them.”
Jessica Pegula’s records against Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka
Pegula clearly played well last night, given the fact that she sparked Rybakina to argue with her coach during the first set.
However, the American sadly saw her one-set lead dissipate before her very eyes, as she slowly slumped to a three-set defeat.
Rybakina has really turned their head-to-head around in recent times, and now leads it with five wins to three.
Against Sabalenka, Pegula’s record is even more damaging, having won three times but lost nine.
In total, against the current top two players in the world, the 32-year-old has just six wins and 11 losses.
Jessica Pegula says how far she feels from Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka
Despite that, Pegula has insisted that she does not feel too far away from this dominant duo.
In that same press conference, she added: “I’m giving myself the chances and the opportunities, and I think I’ve elevated my game. I’ve gotten better, I’ve become a better player. I think that I am definitely challenging them, both of them, and that’s kind of all I can kind of ask of myself and then hopefully, you know, some of the wins will come along.
“But at least I can say that, you know, I’m putting myself in a good position and, you know, even though I joked, I’d rather lose two and two than maybe win a match where I won more points, I think though, you know, deep down, it it’s nice to know that I am improving and challenging them.
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“And that’s, again, at the end of the day, what keeps me passionate about the sport and keeps me excited to keep competing, to see myself get better and challenge them, and I mean, they’ve been the best in the world. I can’t be upset that I’m losing to, like, the two best players in the world.
“I think I’m putting myself in a position to challenge the best players in the world, and become a better player, so I’m happy with that.”
Pegula recently explained why she never wants to play Serena Williams again, and this is ironic considering she actually drew comparisons between Sabalenka and Rybakina and the 23-time Grand Slam champion.
