(Reuters) – Jessica Pegula said she will allow herself to enjoy a cold beer after beating world number one Iga Swiatek in the Canadian Open semi-finals on Saturday, but the celebration will be put on ice until the tournament is completed.
The American world number three had famously sipped from a can of beer during a post-match press conference following her straight-sets loss to Swiatek at last year’s U.S. Open, with that video garnering thousands of views on social media.
Pegula downed Swiatek for the second time in three meetings this year, sealing a 6-2 6-7(4) 6-4 win on Saturday to reach the Montreal final. She said she would savour the moment only after she secures a first title of the season on Sunday.
“I don’t know. Maybe after the tournament, yeah. Maybe I’ll allow myself to have a beer,” Pegula told reporters when asked about cracking open another cold one.
“But yeah, that was a funny moment. I get so many people that are, like, ‘I loved when you drank the beer last year’.
“I’m, like, ‘OK. I’m glad everyone enjoyed it’.”
Pegula endured a bizarre moment in the second set tiebreak when the song “Cotton-Eye Joe” began playing on the speakers in the middle of a rally.
The musical mishap threw the 29-year-old off her game as she lost the set, but she recovered in the next to close out the win.
“I just thought it was funny,” Pegula said. “I’ve never had that happen let alone with ‘Cotton-Eye Joe’. I was like ‘is this really happening right now?’ Of all the songs. It was just like, ‘What is going on?’
“Yeah, it was a bummer because I hit a really good lob and she barely got it, and I had a really good play on the ball, and she was kind of out of position from the lob that I hit.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard)
