Toronto, CANADA – Team Yonex star Jessica Pegula (USA) will go into her home Grand Slam, the US Open, feeling good about her hard-court tennis after winning the National Bank Open in Toronto.

 

Some of the best tennis of Pegula’s career has come on Canadian hard courts with this the second year in a row that she has won a tournament that alternates between Toronto and Montreal. With her 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 victory over Amanda Anisimova, the American landed a third career WTA 1000 title, as well as her sixth WTA singles overall. The World No. 6 will be feeling confident when the US Open, the final major of the season, starts in New York City on Monday, August 26^th.

 

With Toronto close to her home in Buffalo, New York, Pegula was watched by her husband, her grandparents and other friends and family, which must have contributed to the high quality of her performances on the court. 

 

“Toronto, it's nice, it's so close to Buffalo, I had a lot of friends, family, and my grandparents, and my husband was able to come today. 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,” said Pegula. “I don't know what it is about Canada, but I just seem to do well, so I’ll take that.”

 

The victory was even more meaningful for Pegula because of where her grandparents are from. “My grandparents are here, that are actually Canadian,” Pegula said. “My grandma’s from Montreal and my grandpa’s from Toronto.”

 

It was a historic victory for the Team Yonex athlete, who became the first woman since 2000 to win the National Bank Open title two years in succession. “It’s pretty amazing that my name gets to be up there not only once but twice now on that list of people. It’s a little bit of history that gets to stay with me forever, so that was really cool,” Pegula said.

 

Road to the title:

Round of 32: Beat Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 6-4

Round of 16: Beat Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-4 

Quarter-final: Beat Peyton Stearns 6-4, 7-5

Semi-final: Beat Diana Schnaider 6-4, 6-3

Final: Beat Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 2-6, 6-1