Jessica Pegula wins 2023 Hana Bank Korea Open

The 2023 Hana Bank Korea Open women’s tennis tournament closed Sunday with Jessica Pegula of the United States defeating Yue Yuan of China 2-0 in the final of the singles tournament to clinch her second singles title of the season.

Jessica Pegula of the United States defeats Yue Yuan of China in the final to win the singles title at the 2023 Hana Bank Korea Open in southern Seoul on Sunday. [YONHAP]

The 2023 Hana Bank Korea Open women’s tennis tournament closed Sunday with the singles and doubles finals at the Olympic Park Tennis Court in southern Seoul.

Top-seed Jessica Pegula of the United States defeated Yue Yuan of China 2-0 in the final of the singles tournament to clinch her second singles title of the season after Yuan missed her last two serves on the court.

Yuan, ranked 128th, started the match strong, taking the first game to 40-love before Pegula, ranked 4th, fought back. Yuan won the first game of the set, but Pegula came back in the second, tying the set score at 1-1.

The two briefly stayed neck-and-neck before Pegula won four games in a row to put the score at 5-2. Pegula denied Yuan a comeback, winning the final game of the set to end it 6-2.

Pegula led scoring in the second set, securing three games in a row before Yuan took her first. While Yuan put another two games on the board, so did Pegula, and the two entered the matchpoint game with the top seed up 5-3.

Although Yuan put up a fight, a final out-of-bounds serve handed the title to Pegula, who took her first Korea Open win.

Pegula, 29, and Yuan, 25, have so far met twice on the court. Pegula defeated Yuan 2-1 during the round of 32 at the 2022 U.S. Open in New York.

Pegula was eliminated from the 2019 Korea Open after losing her round-of-32 match against Ysaline Bonaventure 2-1.

“The last time I was here was a really special experience with my mom coming back to her adoptive country, the first time she’s been back since she was adopted,” said Pegula, whose mother was born in Korea but was adopted, following an earlier win on Tuesday.

“It’s been really special, you know, to see also how many fans I’ve gained here over the last few years from when I first played here. Now people know me a lot more and they know my mom or my background or my history.”

Jessica Pegula kisses the trophy following her singles final win at the 2023 Hana Bank Korea Open in Seoul on Sunday. [YONHAP]

Earlier on Centre Court, second-seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Marie Bouzková defeated the third-seed duo, Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech and Luksika Kumkhum, 2-0 in the doubles final.

It was a swift victory for Mattek-Sands, of the United States, and Bouzková, of the Czech Republic, who won the match in just one hour and nine minutes of play.

Mattek-Sands and Bouzková, currently ranked 64th and 27th in doubles respectively, started the first set strong, winning three matches in a row before Plipuech and Kumkhum put a game point on the board.

The U.S.-Czech team won the first set 6-2 and continued that momentum, forcing Plipuech and Kumkhum to play catch-up on the court. They allowed their Thai opponents just one game during the second set, ending it 6-1 to claim their championship trophy.

While no Koreans made it to either final on Sunday, plenty of fans filled the Centre Court stadium, cheering for players on both sides of the court.

The Korean doubles team of Park So-hyun and Choi Ji-hee made it the furthest, advancing to the quarterfinals.

Mattek-Sands’ Sunday win marked her best performance at the Korea Open, which she previously entered in 2016 and 2018, while Bouzková left her tournament debut with a championship trophy.

Bouzková was eliminated from the singles tournament at the Korea Open on Friday following a 2-0 loss to Yuan during the quarterfinal round. Mattek-Sands failed to advance past the qualifying stage.

Doubles runners-up Plipuech and Kumkhum entered this year’s Korea Open as finals veterans, finishing second in 2017 after a 2-0 loss to the Netherlands’ Kiki Bertens and Sweden’s Johanna Larsson.

For both Plipuech and Kumkhum, the Korea Open marks the only WTA 250 tournament in which either has advanced to the finals in career history.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]