He knows a winning performance when he sees one. Top seed Jessica Pegula was cheered on to victory at the ATX Open on Saturday by a famous special guest: actor Matthew McConaughey. 

Native Texan McConaughey was a recognizable face in the crowd for Saturday's slate of play at the WTA  250 event -- also meeting with Pegula's opponent Ajla Tomljanovic and No. 5 seed McCartney Kessler, who won the day's second semifinal. And while Pegula is no stranger to celebrity meet-and-greets as one of the world's best tennis players, she admitted to being left a little star-struck when she met the Academy Award-winner shortly before walking on court.

"I definitely did not have that on my bingo card, seeing him like 30 minutes before the match. I was like, 'That's pretty cool, but now I've gotta win ... crap,'" the World No. 4 wryly joked after beating Tomljanovic in three sets to reach her second final of the season.

But after topping Tomljanovic in nearly two hours under Austin's midday sun, Pegula kept her wits about her to have a laugh at her new friend's expense. She joked that it was great to "finally" cross paths with McConaughey, who is both an avid tennis fan and player, often attends the US Open, and has shown the love to more than a few of Pegula's peers with posts to his social media. 

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"I know he's always supporting a lot of sporting events ... I always see him tweeting at Tommy Paul, so maybe now I'll get an at-shoutout, maybe," she quipped as McConaughey committed to giving her a shoutout of her own from his seat in the the front row.

Much to Pegula's delight, the Dazed and Confused star -- who once also sat in Novak Djokovic's player box to cheer him on to victory at the US Open -- quickly kept his promise, posting on X: "I hear you." 

"See you in the finals," he added.

Will McConaughey's toast be Pegula's lucky charm on her way to her seventh career Hologic WTA Tour singles title?