No. 1 seeds Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys secured the fifth all-American Hologic WTA Tour final of the decade with semifinal victories at the Adelaide International on Friday.

Pegula improved to 3-0 overall against Yulia Putintseva with a 7-6(4), 6-3 win in 1 hour and 29 minutes. Previously, Keys advanced when Liudmila Samsonova had to retire 5-7, 7-5, 3-0 due to an abdominal injury.

Adelaide: Scores | schedule | Pulls

Saturday’s title fight will be the 15th WTA singles final for Pegula, the 14th for Keys and the third installment of the rivalry between the good friends. They have split two previous meetings, with Pegula winning 6-4, 7-5 in the 2022 San Diego quarterfinals and Keys getting revenge 6-1, 6-3 in the fourth round of the 2023 US Open.

Each of the four All-American finals of the decade involved either Pegula or Keys. Pegula lost to Serena Williams in Auckland 2020 and defeated Amanda Anisimova in Toronto 2024. Keys triumphed over Alison Riske-Amritraj in Adelaide 2022 and over Danielle Collins in Strasbourg 2024. Pegula’s overall record in the finals is 6-8, while Keys is 8 – 5.

“I literally texted (Keys) 20 minutes before,” Pegula told the crowd in her on-court interview. “I was running out of electrolytes. I was like, ‘Hey, can I borrow some? I know we’re playing tomorrow, but I need some fluids!’ … We play good tennis, just like I want when we meet in the final every time.”

Despite defeating Putintseva in the opening game, Pegula remained under pressure for the remainder of the first set as the Kazakhstanian produced a series of great lobs and passes to break through to make it 4-4 and take a 4-2 lead in the tiebreak. But Pegula leveled the tiebreak after a net cord turned the eighth point in her favor and pulled away in the second set as her serve-plus-one pattern rose again for her first final since last year’s US Open to reach.

“Box of Tricks is very apt,” Pegula said in her on-court interview when asked to describe Putintseva’s playing style. “Even when I train with her, she throws the forearm serve. I was sure that would come at some point, I was on my toes for a lot of drop shots. I knew she played good tennis and would do that. Be tricky and break the rhythm a little bit, but I thought I did pretty well in the tiebreak, but in the end I was able to play good tennis.

Keys advances after Samsonova retires injured

After narrowly losing the first set, World No. 20 Keys fought back for a tough win in the second set before the struggling Samsonova bowed out due to a double break in the decider. After losing in the first meeting of her career in 2021, Keys has won her last five meetings with 26th-ranked Samsonova.

“Of course you don’t want to win a game if you’re out, but I think I was very proud of myself today that I was able to stay in the game,” Keys said afterwards. “She played so well at the beginning. … I’m very happy that I was able to just hold on and stay in the game for as long as possible.”

The American has now surpassed four consecutive top-30 players to reach this week’s WTA 500 final. She has defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia, defending champion Jelena Ostapenko, No. 3 seed Daria Kasatkina and now Samsonova to secure a spot in the championship game.

Keys is now seeking her ninth career title and her first hardcourt title since 2022, when she won a WTA 250 title in this city of Adelaide. In the final on Saturday she will face either number 1 seed Jessica Pegula or Yulia Putintseva.

Keys fought back from a 3-0 deficit in the first set and saved four set points to get back on serve at 5-4. However, Samsonova took four more set points at 6:5 and finally secured the set with a powerful rally forehand – although she took a medical timeout immediately after this set.

Both players hit more winners than unforced errors in the second set, and Keys’ ratio was particularly outstanding, with 17 winners to just four unforced errors. At 5-5, Samsonova let a 40-0 lead squander when Keys scored the only break of the set. In the next game, Keys hit a backhand winner to level the score.

In the third set, Keys beat Samsonova twice in a row and took a 3-0 lead with a return winner just before Samsonova stopped play. Although Keys lost the first set, he finished the match with 37 wins with 14 unforced errors.