Pegula reigns supreme in 'Motherland'...wins Corrie Open title

A crowd of 7,211 people packed the tennis courts at the Olympic Park in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on Friday. They were there to see Jessica Pegula (29, USA), the world No. 4 on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour. Pegula was playing in the singles final of the Hana Bank Korea Open ($259,303 prize pool) against the 128th-ranked Yuan Yue (China). Despite a brief struggle in the second set, the result was a 2-0 (6:2/6:3) victory for Pegula. Four years ago, Pegula was knocked out in the first round when he first competed at the Korea Open, but this year he came out on top. He took home $34,228 ($46.3 million) for his victory.

For Pegula, South Korea is his "mother's country." His mother, Kim Pegula, was born in Seoul in 1969 and adopted by the United States in 1974 when he was five years old. Because of this, Pegula says, "I'm half Korean." Pegula's parents are American entrepreneurs in the natural gas, real estate, sports, and entertainment business with a combined net worth of $6.7 billion ($9 trillion - Forbes). They own the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL) and the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL). 바카라사이트

Despite the misunderstandings that come with his family background, Pegula has continued his tennis career strongly. In the last two years, he has reached the quarterfinals of the four majors five times. Last October, he was ranked as high as No. 3 in the world.

"This is my last tournament before the Finals and I'm happy to have won it," Pegula said after the match, adding that the trophy was shaped like Korean celadon, "It's more special because it's a Korean style trophy. I hope I don't drop it when I go home." "My tennis is better than it was four years ago, but my mother's health is worse, but I'm hopeful because she's getting better," he said, referring to his mother, Kim, who was with him in his first tournament four years ago but was unable to come to Korea with him due to Kim's health. His maternal grandfather sent him a congratulatory text message shortly after Pegula's win. After lifting the trophy in his mother's country, Pegula will compete in the WTA Finals next season, the ultimate tournament of champions.

Meanwhile, the Korea Open, which was played as a WTA 250 event until this year, will be upgraded to a WTA 500 event from next year, attracting more top-ranked players.