Jessica Pegula’s – Aryna Sabalenka, the WTA No. 1, went out of the WTA 500 Berlin semifinals with a rare third-set collapse against Jessica Pegula, winning just 6-4 in the first set and then handing over control. The result left Sabalenka facing two straight “bagel to-go” moment
BERLIN, Germany — Two things didn’t happen on Saturday in Berlin, and they mattered.
The first: WTA No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka did not win a game in the third set.
The second: Sabalenka did not do the expected post-match press conference.
Instead, she was handed a 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-0 defeat by Jessica Pegula in the WTA 500 Berlin semifinals. The collapse was immediate and unforgiving. After doubling over during the match, Sabalenka received a second “bagel to-go,” this one coming in the final set.
It’s not just that she lost. It’s how she lost.
Sabalenka had also ended her French Open run earlier this month with an unsettling sequence: she lost ten games in a row to Diana Shnaider in the quarterfinal. In Berlin. the pattern was different in shape but similar in feeling—control slipping in a way that leaves players and fans searching for answers.
Tennis history shows how unusual what happened in Berlin really was. In the history of WTA No. 1s, which dates back just over 50 years, the No. 1 player has lost a set 6-0 only 16 times. And while three of those times included a comeback to win the match after being bageled. the third-set 0-6 is a far narrower category: the No. 1 player has lost a third set 0-6 just five times.
Sabalenka has already been part of that small group twice in June 2026—two of the five occasions, or 40 percent.
After her French Open loss to Shnaider, Sabalenka said in her post-match press conference that she “just want(ed) to quit tennis right now.” The Berlin match left another uneasy question behind it: what did she say this time?
Instead of new comments from a podium, there was silence tied to the absence of her post-match press conference.
For Pegula, the win put her in position to convert a rare opening. On grass at Wimbledon—where timing, rhythm, and nerves can flip in an instant—Berlin’s final-set outcome looks less like a random stumble and more like a match that can change how the rest of a season gets framed.
Aryna Sabalenka Jessica Pegula Wimbledon WTA 500 Berlin tennis Aryna Sabalenka injury Sabalenka bagel to-go WTA No. 1 Diana Shnaider French Open
So she got bageled… love tennis but what is going on with Sabalenka lately?
I saw a clip she just collapsed in the third set like instantly. Doesn’t that mean she’s injured or something? Also why no press conference, that’s weird.
It says she didn’t win a game in the 3rd set which is insane, but I’m confused bc Pegula beat her 6-4 first then 6-7 then 6-0? Like how do you win one set and then basically disappear. Wimbledon gonna be brutal if she’s gonna do this again.
Not to be dramatic but if she said she wanted to quit tennis at French Open then maybe this is bigger than sports. And the article makes it sound like she avoided the press conference, which could be injury, attitude, or she’s just overwhelmed. Either way Wimbledon season hinges on vibes I guess bc that 6-0 third set was not normal.