DUBAI, UAE / WAM – World No5 Jessica Pegula gifted herself an early birthday present on Saturday night, comfortably beating Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina to win the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships’ WTA 1000 and become the first American in more than a decade to lift the tournament’s famous silver coffee pot.
Pegula, who turns 32 on Tuesday, dominated the final inside Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium to claim a 10th WTA title in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 inside 73 minutes and become the first US representative since Venus Williams won her third title here in 2014. “Yeah, it’s a great birthday present for me,” Pegula said. “I get to celebrate by flying back home in a few hours, but I’m just super happy to go home with a trophy. It was a great week.”
On the opposite side of the net, No7 seed Svitolina – a two-time Dubai champion having won here in 2017 and 2018 – looked every inch a player who had battled ferociously through an epic three-set, three-hour victory over World No4 Coco Gauff less than 24 hours earlier. The stress and strain such exertions put on a professional player’s body must not be underestimated, yet the 31-year-old mother-of-one was quick to look on the bright side.
“I had a great match yesterday,” said the World No9. “I was very happy with the way I could win that match, so I want to look on this tournament with lots of positives, take only good things. For me, that’s the priority. I played great matches, beat good players. Of course, in a final, it was tough, but Jess is so consistent – she’s a great player and really played great tennis. It is how it is. I’m still happy.
H.H Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum presenting trophy to the WTA DDF Tennis Championships Winner Jessica Pegula—————picture courtesy WAM
For all that Svitolina struggled, Pegula looked picture-perfect – fitting for a player some lovingly refer to as “Jpeg”. Playing with power from the baseline and aggressively rushing the net at opportune moments, she immediately broke serve three times in succession to race to a 4-1 first-set lead. Svitolina, who had fought for every point against Coco Gauff in the semi-finals, looked unable to find the extra energy required, unwilling to push her body past its maximum, and letting potentially gettable balls get past her.
“It’s not easy,” Svitolina said. “I mean, I did a few more mistakes than usual. Sometimes my footwork was not perfect. Little things like here and there I was short and against top players, you cannot make these kind of mistakes constantly. Against a player like Jess, who is very consistent, you have to always put a lot of pressure, you have to always find the small opportunities. Unfortunately, I was a little bit low mentally and my body was tired.”
Pegula’s consistency in recent months has caught the eye. Having reached six consecutive semi-finals, she had only managed to convert two into finals and before Saturday had not managed to take a trophy home. In Dubai though, it never looked in doubt. Having closed out the first set with ease, she bided her time in the second, pulling her opponent around the court, slicing backhands to drag her towards the net and driving groundstrokes to the baseline.
The crucial break came in the fifth game as she rushed the net to work the angles like an expert geometrist.
World No5 Jessica Pegula
“I think I probably felt a little bit better than [Elina] did,” Pegula said. “Her match last night with Coco was insane – a super high level. I was watching: Two of the best, if not the best, competitors we have on Tour. They put on a show and maybe it benefited me a little bit that I got to be done a little bit earlier.”
Yet to win a Grand Slam, the 2024 US Open finalist threw her arms in the air as she won the Championship-deciding point and became Dubai’s newest champion. As the fireworks sparked and the fans cheered, she looked content with her week – not exuberant, but happy to win. Like someone who has even higher ambitions.
“Today is [my] first [title] outside North America, which is kind of cool,” she said. “I lost the Madrid final, so that kind of makes it a little bit special – somewhere that’s not in North America. It proves I can play overseas, which is nice. I’ve had some good results here in the past and I’ve always thought I could play well here, so just finally getting over that hurdle is special.”
Earlier in the evening on the same court, the Doubles final saw the tournament’s fifth seeds, Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani, beat Germany’s Laura Siegemund and Russia’s Vera Zvonareva. Fans flooding into Centre Court ahead of the Singles final witnessed a hugely one-sided first set as Dabrowski and Stefani ruthlessly dismantled their opponents.
After losing the first game, the duo won six consecutive games to steamroll the stunned Siegemund and Zvonareva. With Dabrowski offering power, aggression, and fist bumps galore, there was also a delicate grace about her creative shot selection that existed in perfect symmetry with the finesse and touch displayed in Stefani’s delightful lobs and volleys.
The pair’s dominance continued into the second set and, after only 70 minutes, they sealed the win 6-1, 6-3.
“I’d actually like to just take a second and dedicate this win to my best friend’s father,” said Dabrowski. “His name is Mike Smith, and he has been battling cancer for 12 years now, and he is still fighting and I’ve been thinking of him every single day this week and weeks previous. He’s been an inspiration for me, so this was for him tonight.”
The 26th edition of the annual WTA event ran from February 15-21, featuring 16 of the top 20 ranked female players in the world and 35 of the top 40.
NEWS COURTESY: WAM NEWS (www.wam.ae); Picture Used is as Supplied to E.R.
