Jessica Pegula won her first title of the year at the WTA 1000 Dubai Open on Saturday night. Pegula defeated Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-4 in the final to put to rest criticism of her lack of titles despite her consistent play on tour over the past six months.
While many expected the American to celebrate her victory for some time, Pegula has already set her sights on the next event. As the defending champion of the ATX Open, she will head to Texas to play in the ATP 250 event, beginning Monday, February 23. The former US Open finalist looks hungry for titles and is showcasing top form at the moment.
Pegula will begin her title defense at the ATX Open against Rebecca Sramkova on Tuesday. This will be the second time in her career that Pegula will face the Slovakian. Their previous meeting was on a clay court back in 2015, when the American dispatched her opponent with relative ease.
Pegula has made the semifinals of every tournament she’s played since last year’s US Open. The World No. 5 has hailed her experience on the WTA circuit as the driving force behind the consistency. Pegula certainly starts as the favorite to defend her title in Austin, unless there are any surprises on the way.
Jessica Pegula Opines That the WTA Event Levels Are Always High Despite Withdrawals
After winning the Dubai Open title, Pegula addressed the media, where she touched upon many aspects of the match and gave her honest opinions on withdrawals. The tournament saw top names like Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina, Victoria Mboko, and Karolina Muchova withdraw due to various reasons.
“Yeah, I mean, I was looking at the draw actually. We talked about all these withdrawals. But, I mean, like, we had four top-10 girls in the semis. We had a few more in the quarters. It just shows you the depth of women’s tennis,” Pegula said.
“It just shows you the level is so high week in and week out. Even when you have a lot of players withdrawing, just because we’re missing a few, it doesn’t mean that we still can’t put on some great tennis,” she added.
The 31-year-old American will aim to bring her rich vein of form to Austin and defend her ATX Open title at the end of the week.
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