Jessica Pegula explains what the ‘main difference’ between herself and Aryna Sabalenka was in the Miami Open final

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Jessica Pegula was beaten in a third consecutive final by Aryna Sabalenka after finishing as the Miami Open runner-up.

Pegula challenged Sabalenka in the first set, before the world number one ran away with the lead to win her first title since January.

This is the third final they have played against each other over the past year, including Sabalenka beating Pegula to win the US Open.

With the American losing all three of those matches, Pegula has improvements to make before she plays Sabalenka again.

Jessica Pegula explains difference between herself and Aryna Sabalenka

The first set in particular was very back-and-forth, with there being seven breaks before Sabalenka eventually got the decisive one to win it 7-5.

When speaking in her post-final press conference after the match, Pegula explained that the blustery conditions in Miami were making it very difficult to hold serve.

Pegula went onto admit that Sabalenka played the big points better than her, but was still pleased with her overall performance after achieving her best career result at the Miami Open.

“I mean, I was breaking her. I was putting a lot of pressure on her serve, which is one of her best parts of her game,” said Pegula. “I just wasn’t able to hold consistently and kind of secure those breaks, which I feel was the big difference.

“It was tough on the one side against the wind. We were both really having trouble holding, because if you hit one good return, it just felt like you couldn’t do anything with the ball.

“We are obviously both very good returners, but I think she was able to manage her serve a little bit better and get out of some really long games, whereas I felt like in my service games I was just behind.

“I thought I returned well, moved well, put myself in good positions to get up on her, you know, hitting the ball clean. I just felt like she just was able to kind of hit the lines when she needed to hit that big serve or one-two punch when she needed to.

“That was honestly just the main difference to me today, but as far as the last couple of weeks, I have been I think moving really well, I think consistently been serving a lot better, winning a lot more free points on my serve. Except for today unfortunately (smiling).

“But I have definitely been serving much better and moving really well. I think I want to be able to take that going into the clay court season and really just use those things. I know I’m known more for a hard court player, but I think I can do well on the clay too. So hopefully with some of those intangibles that I have added to my game, that can help me have a good clay season.”

Jessica Pegula vs Aryna Sabalenka on serve and return in the Miami Open final

Serve and return were a big part of the Miami Open final between Sabalenka and Pegula, with there being a total of 11 breaks in the match.

Sabalenka has struggled on serve over the years, even in recent tournaments, but it was her opponent who was having more issues in the Miami Open final.

Despite having a percentage than Sabalenka, Pegula won less than half of her points on first serve and was broken a total of seven times.

The world number four’s second serve was even more of a concern, as she won just four of her 17 points on it.

Pegula will not have a long turnaround as she heads to the Charleston Open, where she is the top seed.

While Sabalenka will bid to challenge Iga Swiatek on clay at the Stuttgart Open in two weeks time, having twice been a runner-up.