Pegula dominates Samsonova to win women’s NBO title

MONTREAL –

American Jessica Pegula put on a dominant display Sunday evening, defeating Liudmila Samsonova of Russia 6-1, 6-0 in a women’s singles final that never looked close to capture her first National Bank Open title.

It’s Pegula’s first WTA title this year and the third of her career. The 29-year-old, seeded fourth, last won a tournament at the Guadalajara Open in October last year.

Pegula, who took down sixth seed Coco Gauff and world No. 1 Iga Swiatek to reach the final, won in 49 minutes against a noticeably tired opponent who had already played once on Sunday.

The 15th-seeded Samsonova defeated Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 earlier to advance to the final.

The semifinal was originally scheduled for Saturday evening but had to be pushed due to rainy weather in Montreal, which subsided on a sunny but windy Sunday.

Samsonova, who also played two matches on Friday due to a week riddled with poor weather in Montreal, made numerous unforced errors in the final, including six double faults.

Pegula, meanwhile, was well-rested after beating world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the first semifinal Saturday afternoon before the weather took a turn for the worse — and it showed.

As much as Samsonova looked fatigued, Pegula also played flawlessly, winning 100 per cent of her first service points and going five-for-eight on break points.

A day after breaking Swiatek 11 times, Pegula was up to much of the same, hitting multiple return winners with her forehand to break Samsonova twice en route to taking the first set in 20 minutes.

The American even took that up a notch in the second set, converting three break points without dropping a single game.

In total, Pegula won 51 points to Samsonova’s 21.