Pegula defends National Bank Open title with win over Anisimova

Jessica Pegula has defended her National Bank Open title, becoming the first woman to manage that feat in more than two decades. 

On Monday night in an all-American final, the 30-year-old from Buffalo earned a 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 win over Amanda Anisimova to earn her second straight National Bank Open title, and her sixth career WTA title. This time, Pegula won the Canadian tournament in Toronto, much closer to home than her 2023 title win in Montreal. 

The last player to defend at the National Bank Open was Martina Hingis, who won it back-to-back in 1999 and 2000. 

Pegula took control early, making good on her first break point in the first game, when Anisimova sent a backhand long. Then Pegula held Anisimova to love in her service game to take a 2-0 lead. 

Anisimova’s ground strokes weren’t falling in or were hitting the net early on, and she showed signs of frustration in the first set, looking at her coach with her arms up, bouncing a ball hard against the court. She then double-faulted to give Pegula set point in the first, which took just 27 minutes. 

In the second set, Pegula earned an early ace and Anisimova smashed her racquet against the court. But Anisimova battled back big time, down 0-40 in her first service game of the second set, which marked a turning point: Anisimova not only came back to win that game, but she then carried that momentum into the ensuing game. At 1-1, Anisimova earned her first break point of the match, making good on the second after a lengthy rally, finishing it with a down-the-line forehand that got the crowd cheering.

Anisimova earned her second break to go up 5-2 after Pegula double-faulted for the third time in the match. When she closed out the set on her service game, Anisimova pumped her fist. 

This marked Anisimova’s first-ever Masters 1000 final. Ranked 132^nd in the world coming into this tournament, the 22-year-old took a break from tennis last year due to burnout, but returned this season, and with her finish in Toronto, she’s now ranked 49^th in the world. 

And Monday night was also the first time all tournament long that Pegula lost a set. 

Pegula, the No. 6 ranked player in the world, bounced back quickly in the third, earning an early break to take a 2-0 lead after Anisimova double-faulted for the second time in the match to give Pegula a game. Pegula then earned a triple break point against Anisimova to go up 4-0, after Anisimova sent a forehand into the net. 

Before the match began, both players were announced and marched onto the court followed by American flags for this final, the first all-American final for the National Bank Open since 2001, when Serena Williams beat Jennifer Capriati in a three-setter.