Jessica Pegula needed merely 49 minutes to notch a 6-1, 6-0 win over Liudmila Samsonova in the final of the Canadian Open on Sunday. This capped off quite a successful week for the American, who got through Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek in the quarter-final and semi-final respectively.
It was quite a one-sided match-up considering that Samsonova was perhaps exhausted from having to play two matches on a single, on two separate days. The 15th seed had earlier needed three sets to defeat the third-seeded Elena Rybakina. Samsonova dropped the first set against the Kazakh but posted a strong 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 comeback win after an hour and 43 minutes of play.
Previously, Samsonova had had to play her third-round match against Aryna Sabalenka and her quarter-final against Belinda Bencic on Friday after rain forced the cancellation of the former match on Thursday. Again, on Saturday, her match against Rybakina had to be shifted to Sunday, before the scheduled final. Pegula had a chance to finish her semi-final on Saturday against Swiatek before rain hit badly.
Canadian Open: The road-map to Jessica Pegula’s victory
In the final, Pegula didn’t face any break point but converted five of the eight break points that came her way on Samsonova’s serve. The 28-year-old also won all 19 points played on her first serve and 77% of points on return on her opponent’s second serve. She finished with 51 points to Samsonova’s 21 for the match.
After the match, during the presentation, Pegula credited Samsonova for the effort she’d propped up. She said, “Congrats to Liudmila. I think everyone needs to give her a round of applause bc she’s played like five matches in three days.”
About her own accomplishment, she added, “We’re out on tour to win tournaments and to win titles every single week, but tennis can be really tough where you sometimes lose a lot. Even when you’re winning a lot of matches, you’re still not winning tournaments, so it can get tough. Winning a week like this week makes it all worth it and makes you want to keep going for more. I’ll be right back at it tomorrow in Cincinnati.”
The Canadian Open crown’s the third WTA singles title Jessica Pegula’s won in her career. Also, of the three titles she’s won, following this win, she now holds two WTA 1000 trophies.
Photo Credit: Canadian Open Twitter