Fourth seed Jessica Pegula produced a composed and efficient display to defeat the seventh seed Elina Svitolina 6-2 6-4 in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Pegula took control from the opening matches, creating a 3-0 lead and immediately putting Svitolina under pressure on serve. The Ukrainian briefly threatened a breakback, but Pegula held firm when her serve was threatened again shortly afterwards and saved two break points before extending her lead to 5-1. Moments later, another mistake by Svitolina sealed the opening set in Pegula’s favor.
In the second set, Pegula remained patient, waited for her chance and struck with the decisive break in the fifth game. From there, she calmly closed the door and ended the match on her own terms.
The win gave Pegula her 10th singles title and her fourth at WTA 1000 level. It also put her in select company, making her only the third American woman to lift the Dubai trophy, joining Lindsay Davenport and three-time champion Venus Williams. With this she gave Svitolina her first defeat in a WTA 1000 final.
Now ranked fifth in the world and celebrating her 32nd birthday in three days, Pegula has finally turned consistency into silverware. After three straight defeats in the WTA 1000 finals, Dubai was the moment everything clicked.
After a first-round bye, the American powered her way through the draw with wins over Varvara Gracheva, Iva Jovic, Clara Tauson and Amanda Anisimova before sealing the title against Svitolina, the former Dubai champion who lifted the trophy in 2017 and 2018.
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