Eighth seeded Tunisian Ons Jabeur and the No. 12 seed Jessica Pegula of the United States, advanced to their first WTA 1000-level championship match at the Madrid Open on Saturday.

During Thursday’s first semifinal, Jabeur eliminated Russian qualifier Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2, 6-3 in what was her second career 1000 semifinal to become the first Arab player to reach a WTA 1000 final.

Jabeur is also the first Arab woman to crack a professional tennis Top 10 and will play in her second final of the season following her runner-up finish in Charleston last month. She is 1-4 in tour finals so far.

Pegula, on the other hand, moved into her fourth and biggest singles final after beating Swiss Jil Teichmann 6-3, 6-4 in their late-night last four clash.

The world No. 14 has won a total of 28 matches at this level spanning the 2021 and 2022 seasons, only trailing the current World No.1 Iga Swiatek who has 29.

The head-to-head series between the pair is tied at 2-2, with all four previous meetings coming on hard-court. Pegula won the first two meetings, but Jabeur has won their past pair of matches which came in Chicago last year and Dubai earlier in 2022.

A victory in the Madrid Open final (6:30 p.m. local, 12:30 ET) would bring the Tunisian a first WTA Tour 1000 title and equal her career-high of No.7 in the rankings. Pegula is also looking towards achieving her career-best level title – and Top 10 debut next Monday.