Jessica Pegula Defeats Amanda Anisimova to Secure Consecutive National Bank Open Titles

Jessica Pegula, the No. 3 seed and the sixth-ranked WTA Tour player, successfully defended her title at the National Bank Open, defeating Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 in Monday's all-American final.

Pegula, hailing from Buffalo, New York, clinched last year's National Bank Open in Montreal and now boasts a 17-2 record at the Canadian tennis championship, marking her sixth career tournament victory.

“I'm so excited to be here with the trophy again,” Pegula said. “I really wanted this one. 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 becomes the first woman to win consecutive titles at Canada's premier event since Martina Hingis in 2000.

“I've always just played well here,” said Pegula, 30. “Especially Toronto, it's nice. It's so close to Buffalo, I had a lot of friends, family (in the stands). And my grandparents, my husband was able to come today. I don't really get that at a lot of tournaments.”

Amanda Anisimova, ranked No. 132 in the world and making a comeback after a mental health break, defeated three top-20 players in Toronto, including No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals.

“Really thought I had it there after the second set, but she really stepped it up,” said Anisimova, who will be No. 49 in the rankings on Tuesday. “She was playing some amazing tennis. It was a very, very difficult match.”

Monday's match was only the second time that the final of a WTA 1000 event — one tier below the sport's Grand Slams — featured two American players since the format's introduction in 2009. The previous instance occurred in 2016, when Serena Williams defeated Madison Keys in Rome.

Pegula, who is now 3-0 against Anisimova following a clay court victory earlier this season, had previously defeated Liudmila Samsonova in last year's final.

The match saw Pegula take an early break in the first game and lead 5-3 when Anisimova double-faulted to concede the first set. Anisimova rallied in the second set, coming from love-40 down to break Pegula and eventually win the set 6-2.

The final marked the first time since 2001 that two American women contested Canada's national championship, when Serena Williams defeated Jennifer Capriati.

Anisimova reflected on her return to competitive tennis, saying, “I put the work in, I kept my head down. I tried to come back to the sport with more of a relaxed feeling — trying to enjoy each day as it comes and not being so serious about everything, because I think that takes away the joy from a lot of things. With that kind of approach to my everyday life, I think that's helped me a lot.”

In the doubles final, the American pair of Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk triumphed over Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand's Erin Routliffe with scores of 7-6 (2), 3-6, 10-7.

Dabrowski, who won the National Bank Open doubles title in 2021 with Luisa Stefani of Brazil, and Routliffe had previously defeated Dolehide and Krawczyk in the Wimbledon semifinals before losing in the final to Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend.