Jessica Pegula has claimed her first piece of silverware of the 2026 season after seeing off Elina Svitolina in straight sets to win the Dubai Tennis Championships.
The American fourth seed surged to a 6-2, 6-4 win over an at times jaded Svitolina, who was feeling the aftereffects of her marathon three-hour clash with Coco Gauff a day earlier. Pegula won 79% of her first service points and broke Svitolina four times en route to glory. She now leads the Ukrainian 6-3 in their head-to-head.
Pegula beat four top 20 players in Dubai over the past week, which is something she has only previously achieved once at the 2023 WTA Finals. Iva Jovic, Clara Tucson and Amanda Anisimova were the other players she beat earlier in the draw.
“I couldn’t ask for a better birthday present. I’m just super proud of myself. I had to play at a very high level, it was awesome,” said Pegula, who will turn 32 on Tuesday.
“I feel like when you can get off to a quick start, that eases the nerves a little bit.
“Mentally, I think, especially the match yesterday, I was down a set and 3-1, and I fought back, which made me feel free today. I trusted the things we’ve been working on and it paid off.”
The world No.5 broke Svitolina three consecutive times in the opening set to earn an early stronghold in the match. Then in the second frame, she faced more resistance from across the court and saved a break point when serving at 4-4. Despite this, she still managed to seal victory in just over 70 minutes.
Pegula has now won 10 WTA titles during her career, with four of those triumphs being at WTA 1000 tournaments. Since the start of the 2020 season, only three women have contested more Tour-level finals than the American – Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina.
There are also plenty of positives for runner-up Svitolina, who was playing in the most high-profile final of her career (in terms of tournament categories) since the 2019 WTA Finals. Prior to facing Pegula, she came through three consecutive three-set matches against Belinda Bencic, Antonia Ruzic and Gauff.
“It was a tough match,” said Svitolina.
“For me personally, it was a great week. I had lots of great battles. Today, unfortunately, I came up a little bit short. But I’m still very, very happy to play good tennis here (in Dubai). I always love to play here.”
Pegula is the second-oldest woman to win the Dubai title after Venus Williams, who was 33 when she won the title in 2014.
