Pegula lifts consecutive crown, third WTA 1000 title in Toronto

Jessica Pegula holds off strong challenge to win her second successive National Bank Open title and her third WTA 1000 crown on Monday evening.

The 30-year-old came out on top in the all American encounter and battle past a resurgent Amanda Anisimova in an all-American final, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 in Toronto

“Toronto, it’s nice, it’s so close to Buffalo, I had a lot of friends, family, and my grandparents, my husband was able to come today,” said the Buffalo, New York native Pegula. “That’s cool, I don’t really get that at a lot of tournaments.

“Then to be able to win the tournament as well, and to be able to share that moment with them is really special. I don’t know what it is about Canada, but I just seem to do well, so I’ll just … yeah, I’ll take it,” Pegula added with a laugh.

Pegula needed 1 hour and 27 minutes to get past Anisimova, who had defeated four straight Top 20 players to reach the first WTA 1000 final of her career.

Pegula denied her countrywoman a fifth Top 20 win of the week, and won her sixth WTA singles title in the process.

Pegula is the first woman to win back-to-back National Bank Open titles since Martina Hingis won her second straight in 2000. Pegula was already the first woman to reach two straight finals at the event since Simona Halep in 2015 and 2016.

With her 10th straight match-win at the tournament, Pegula becomes the first woman to register 10 consecutive singles wins at the National Bank Open since Serena Williams won 14 straight matches from 2011 through 2014.