"She’s taken three titles from me, I can take her margarita": Jessica Pegula looks back at viral drink moment with Aryna Sabalenka

Jessica Pegula joked after ‘stealing’ Aryna Sabalenka’s margarita following the Miami Open final. The American faced the Belarusian in the latest WTA 1000 final, which ended with a 7-5, 6-2 victory for Sabalenka, securing her 25th career title and 8th at this level.

It was the ninth meeting between Sabalenka and Pegula and their third consecutive final. They had previously clashed in the 2024 Cincinnati Open and US Open finals, both won by the current world No. 1.

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(VIDEO) Jessica Pegula gets revenge, swipes Aryna Sabalenka's 'Marg-Aryna' Miami Open cocktail during interview

After the Miami final, Sabalenka was in full celebration mode, giving an interview to Tennis Channel while toasting with a margarita in honour of her latest triumph. That’s when Pegula playfully crashed the set, grabbed the world No. 1’s drink, took a sip, and shared a laugh with her.

The American quickly traveled to Charleston to compete in the first WTA 500 clay-court event of the season, where she is the top seed. Pegula made a strong debut with an easy win over qualifier Iryna Shymanovich, who was playing in a tournament of this category for the first time.

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After her victory, Pegula joined Tennis Channel for an interview at the Daniel Island Tennis Center, where she was asked about the viral moment. “I had to take something from her,” Pegula joked. “She’s taken three first-place trophies from me, like come on, I can take her margarita.”

When asked about Sabalenka’s drink, Pegula responded: “Wasn’t bad, had a nice tahini salt rim, that was nice, I enjoyed that.” The world No. 4 then added with a laugh: “It was funny, I saw her up there and I’ve seen her up there with it before, and I was like okay, you know what? Enough with this girl drinking her margaritas and winning every match. Come on, this is ridiculous.”

Pegula will play her third-round match on Thursday against Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic, who defeated 16th seed Peyton Stearns in straight sets.

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