Jessica Pegula was left in tears as the American ace sealed back-to-back Canadian Open crowns. She sealed a second straight National Bank Open win by defeating Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 2-6, 6-1.
Pegula was left emotional after what has been a pretty torrid year for the third seed in Canada. Her ranking has started to drop after missing multiple WTA 1000 tournaments, Grand Slams after struggling in the spring.
But going into the Summer, she showed grit and resolve as she won Berlin weeks after her return and followed that up in Canada bouncing back after Olympic Games disappointment. She now heads towards Cincinnati with another title under her belt and the confidence with happy tears firmly flowing.
“Crazy. I can’t believe it. I wanted it so bad,” a tearful Pegula said. “Getting emotional thinking about it. I’m so happy to take the title here. It’s awesome. I’m just flooded with emotions. It has been an up-and-down year but these are happy tears. I’m so happy.”
“I know everyone’s talking about my record and all this stuff, but it’s nice to be able to get through the week and to back it up,” Pegula added. “Just super excited, I mean, an honor, really.”
While she also paid tribute to her grandparents after winning in both Canadian cities. “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,” she further said in her post match speech. “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,”