Pegula's unstoppable performance against Samsonova secures her second WTA 1000 title at Canadian Open

Jessica Pegula was vastly superior to Liudmila Samsonova and claimed the title at the WTA National Bank Open Montreal.

American tennis player Jessica Pegula had one of the best weeks of her career, defeating Yulia Putintseva, Jasmine Paolini, 6th seed Coco Gauff, and world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, advancing to her third WTA 1000 final.

Facing her was 24-year-old Russian tennis player Liudmila Samsonova, who played the best tennis of her career this week, defeating Katerina Siniakova, Zheng Qinwen, world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, 12th seed Belinda Bencic, and world No. 3 Elena Rybakina to reach her first final in a tournament of this category.

Samsonova had only an hour and a half to recover from the semifinal match with Rybakina since yesterday's rain prevented it from being played, and it was rescheduled today with only a few hours of difference from the final, giving Pegula an advantage as she played earlier yesterday.

It wasn't the first day Samsonova played two matches, as the matches with Sabalenka and Bencic also had only a few hours of difference.

Samsonova's performance was clearly affected by the lack of rest and experience in the final stages of important tournaments. The Russian only won her first service game, but then came a streak of eleven consecutive games for Pegula, securing a victory of 6-1, 6-0.

Pegula recorded an incredible 100% of points won with the first service and didn't concede any break points to her opponent. On the other hand, she capitalized on five out of eight break opportunities in her favor.

Samsonova won only 38% of her service points compared to Pegula's 78%. The American was nearly flawless in her aggression, hitting 16 winners and only committing 3 unforced errors, while her opponent had 6 winners but a high total of 22 unforced errors.

Overall, it took the 29-year-old athlete only 49 minutes to secure one of the most one-sided WTA 1000 finals and claim her second title in this category, after being the champion at the 2022 Guadalajara tournament against Maria Sakkari.

The result allows Pegula to maintain her position as world No. 3 for another week, holding a slight lead over the Kazakh Rybakina. This week, Pegula will participate in the Cincinnati Open starting on Wednesday and will face the winner between Bernarda Pera and Martina Trevisan.

As for Samsonova, she will achieve the best ranking of her career by climbing to world No. 12. This week, she will make her debut in Cincinnati against the 18-year-old Czech player Linda Noskova, who came through the qualifying rounds.