Jessica Pegula kicked off the United Cup final by giving the United States a 1-0 lead over Italy with a 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Martina Trevisan.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Despite the straight-sets scoreline, the contest was far from straightforward for the WTA World No. 3. Trevisan came out firing with an ultra-aggressive strategy, and remained committed to front-foot tennis throughout, reports unitedcup.com.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Pegula, normally an excellent proponent of these tactics herself, was forced onto the back foot more than usual. Though the American led 3-0 and then 4-2 in the first set, Trevisan managed to level at 4-4 after coming up with a series of fizzing forehands.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Ironically after this pattern, the set turned on a rare shot that Trevisan backed off. Serving at 4-5, 30\/30, a tentative drive volley allowed Pegula to crunch a forehand of her own to reach set point. The American promptly converted it with a superb backhand winner down the line.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Pegula settled in the second set, reducing her unforced error tally from 17 to seven while eliciting mistakes from Trevisan with canny court craft. Trevisan's do-or-die approach ultimately didn't pay off as the WTA World No. 27 racked up 31 unforced errors against 14 winners.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Trevisan went down swinging, finding another sequence of crowd-pleasing winners to cut Pegula's 5-0 lead to 5-2. But Pegula remained solid to close out the second set in an identical manner to the first: with a pinpoint backhand down the line.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Pegula settled in the second set, reducing her unforced error tally from 17 to seven while eliciting mistakes from Trevisan with canny court craft. Trevisan's do-or-die approach ultimately didn't pay off as the WTA World No. 27 racked up 31 unforced errors against 14 winners.<\/p>\r\n\r\n