MIDLAND, Michigan, February 2, 2019 – Some things in life just belong together. What’s peanut butter without jelly? Or cookies without milk? Or Caty McNally without Jessica Pegula?
McNally and Pegula first played doubles together in 2018. he duo would win their first event playing together in October. Just over three months later, at the 2019 Dow Tennis Class, the duo has a chance to take home some silverware again.
The catch? It’s in singles this time. And they’re playing each other.
McNally and Pegula each earned straight set victories in Saturday’s semifinal round, taking down top seeded Rebecca Peterson and Robin Anderson, respectively, to set up their match-up in Sunday’s final.
“It’ll be fun!” said Pegula on the chance to play her doubles partner McNally, “We started playing together last year and she’s been doing really well. It’ll be interesting!”
The pair had slightly different routes to get to this point. Pegula was the fourth seed in the singles draw and was the favorite heading into every match she has played this weekend. On paper, Pegula is probably the favorite heading into tomorrow’s final as well.
Pegula won pretty handily in straight sets the one time the pair faced off in a professional match. Don’t count out the 17-year-old Cincinnati product, however, as she is no stranger to taking down tough opponents.
McNally, a wild card in this week’s tournament, has taken down seeded opponent’s in three of her four matches. One of those opponents was this event’s defending champion. Another was the top seed and 57th ranked player in the world, in Rebecca Peterson.
“It’s given me so much confidence,” said McNally about her wins over tough competition this week, “It’s shown how much my game has matured and that I’m at the same level as them.”
So, while the duo couldn’t quite replicate their October success in doubles, one of them will be taking home the 2019 Dow Tennis Classic title on Sunday.
In the doubles final, Olga Govortsova and Valeria Savinykh were able to take down Coco Gauff and Ann Li in a battle of first time doubles partners.
The match opened with each pair trading points, but with the score at 4-4 in the opening set, Govortsova and Savinykh were able to break Gauff and Li, and from there would win 7 straight points to close out the match 6-4, 6-0.
“It was the first time I’ve seen them [play]. They’re really young and they’re playing really well,” said Govortsova of her doubles final opponents, “At four-all I knew we would have to step it up and be more aggressive and I felt like when I started being more aggressive and hitting better balls we broke their rhythm and that helped us to win.”
According to Gorvotsova, Savinykh is quite the baker so they’ll be celebrating tonight’s victory with a homemade cake.
“Yes, it’s a baking night tonight!” said Savinykh with a laugh, “Then tomorrow it’s back to practice, I’m going to come here to practice with the boys team from [Northwood] University.”
