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Several tennis fans have expressed disappointment and disapproval after Jessica Pegula moved up to third in the live WTA rankings, pushing Elena Rybakina one place down to fourth.
Rybakina has not been in action since she failed to defend her Wimbledon Championships title. Pegula, on the other hand, has begun her North American hardcourt swing at the Citi Open, where she has reached the semifinal, helping her gather important ranking points.
With her run in Washington, Pegula has risen to third in the rankings. That has irked tennis fans, who took to social media to express their views.
One fan brought up Pegula's billionaire family background and said:
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"I doesn’t make sense, Capitalist billionaire scamming poor socialist women."
Another fan opined that Rybakina had been 'robbed'.
"Help Rybakina has been robbed ATTENTIONEEEEE PICKPOCKETTTT," a tweet read.
Here are some more fan reactions:
Jessica Pegula through to Citi Open semifinals, to face Maria Sakkari or seed Madison Keys next
Jessica Pegula is currently in action at the Citi Open in Washington, where she beat Peyton Stearns to set up a quarterfinal clash with Elina Svitolina.
The two locked horns on Friday, August 4, where Pegula came from a set behind to beat the Ukrainian. The American registered a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory in two hours and eight minutes.
Having previously defeated Daria Kasatkina at the French Open and Iga Swiatek at the Wimbledon Championships, Svitolina was close to picking up her third top-10 win in the three months since her comeback from maternity leave. However, Pegula fought her way back into the contest and used the momentum to clinch victory.
The American finished with 27 winners to 25 unforced errors, while Svitolina saw her 23 winners outweighed by 31 unforced errors.
After the match, Pegula expressed her admiration for Svitona, saying that the Ukranian was back to her competitive best since spending time away from the WTA Tour on maternity leave.
"I think we play very similar -- very solid from both sides -- so I knew it was going to be a tough match. [I have] tons of respect for her. She just had a baby, and everything she's going through with her country. I told her it was like she came back a new person. You can see the competitiveness in her and I've always really respected that," she said in the on-court interview.
"She was one of my first big wins when I broke through a couple of years ago, and to beat someone as tough as her gave me a lot of confidence. I always had a lot of respect for how she competes and her attitude on court," she added.
Pegula is a former Citi Open champion, having won her maiden WTA trophy in Washington in 2019. She is now into the semifinals of the tournament for the third time in her career, where she will face either fourth-seed Maria Sakkari or seventh-seed Madison Keys.
