Aryna Sabalenka lost another deciding set without winning a game as an impressive Jessica Pegula beat the world number one to reach the Berlin Open final.

Belarusian Sabalenka never looked settled against Pegula, who recovered from losing a tight second set to come through 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-0.

American Pegula had lost five of her past six matches against Sabalenka but her flat shots and superb return of serve anchored her performance this time around.

For Sabalenka it is another disappointing deciding-set performance, having lost the third set of her French Open quarter-final 6-0 after squandering a set and double break lead.

Pegula had fought back from 5-2 down in the second set to force a tie-break and led 3-1 before rain delayed play for an hour.

When they returned, Sabalenka won six of the next seven points to force a deciding set – only for Pegula to dominate the top seed.

“She came out and ripped a bunch of winners and I told myself ‘I guess I wanted to win in the hard way anyway’,” Pegula, 32, said.

“I don’t get super emotional. People used to tell me when I was younger that I need to yell more and jump up and down.

“Honestly, it feels like a waste of energy to me. I just try to be myself.”

Pegula will face either Czech Linda Noskova or Alexandra Eala of the Philippines in Sunday’s final.

AEW has risen to mainstream popularity over the last few years and is now one of the top professional wrestling companies in the world. The Tony Khan-led promotion is set to host their annual Forbidden Door pay-per-view in collaboration with CMLL, New Japan Pro Wrestling and World Wonder Ring STARDOM next weekend. Ahead of the blockbuster event, the All Elite Wrestling Women’s World Champion recently attacked the STARDOM President Taro Okada.

Since 2022, All Elite Wrestling has been collaborating with New Japan Pro Wrestling and several other promotions to host the annual Forbidden Door pay-per-view. The concept behind the event is that stars from the Tony Khan led company get to face-off against wrestlers from other companies. The cross-promotional event has become an integral part of AEW’s pay-per-view calendar.

This year, the AEW Women’s World Champion Thekla is set to defend her title against STARDOM’s Starlight Kid. The match was made after the Toxic Spider disrespected the Joshi Wrestling promotion on several occasions. On a recent episode of Dynamite, Thekla spat on the STARDOM logo and has fired shots at the company’s President Taro Okada many times. This animosity stems from Thekla’s tenure in STARDOM which abruptly ended after Okada fired her.

At a recent episode of STARDOM, Thekla made a surprise appearance by attacking Taro Okada. She showed up right behind him at ringside and tried to shave his head with a trimmer. After Okada escaped her from there, she took him to the ring and whipped him several times with a leather belt. This is one of the most personal feuds heading into the Forbidden Door pay-per-view.

Fans are really excited to see if the Starlight Kid will be able to preserve STARDOM’s honor at Forbidden Door by defeating Thekla.

AEW Women’s World Champion Thekla confirms that she’ll never be a babyface

Ever since her debut in the Jacksonville-based company last year, Thekla has been dominating the whole roster. She captured the Women’s World title from Kris Statlander earlier this year in a brutal strap match and has been terrorising the Women’s division ever since.

Ahead of her upcoming title defense against Starlight Kid, she recently appeared in an interview with the Sal Licata Show. During the interview, the Toxic Spider revealed that she doesn’t ever plan on turning babyface.

“I was never going to be a babyface either, so ‘toxic’ is just like—you know—it tells you, ‘Be aware, danger.’ That’s me… I’m just an a**hole, man. I don’t like playing by rules. I don’t like bending down to authority. I’m just a little bit of a p**ck—and I’m having fun with that. And I think people like to watch me have fun being a p**ck. So there you have it,” she said.

Thekla is one of the best heels in AEW right now and it would’ve been very unusual to see her play the role of a babyface.