Jessica Pegula was 3-1 down in the deciding set on Saturday night, staring at the end of the Cincinnati Open final she had publicly said she wanted. Two hours and 48 minutes after the first ball, she had it anyway. Her 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 win over Iga Swiatek ended the defending champion’s title defence, snapped a 10-match winning streak and set up the tournament’s first all-American women’s final in 56 years.
Pegula, the world No. 3, meets Coco Gauff on Sunday evening on Stadium Court, with $1,085,200 and 1,000 ranking points to the winner. The last time two American women contested a Cincinnati final, Rosie Casals beat Nancy Richey 6-3, 6-3. That was 1970.
Thirteen breaks and a dethroned champion
Serve was not an asset for either player. The semi-final produced 13 breaks across three sets, a rhythm-free slugfest in which neither woman could hold a lead for long. Swiatek, the seventh seed and a six-time major champion, coughed up two double faults that handed over breaks; Pegula needed four break points in the ninth game of the third set before she finally converted the one that mattered, then served it out.
“It was a really tough match. She is in great form,” Pegula said afterwards. “To beat someone who is such a great athlete like Iga in the semis and to make it to another 1000 final, it’s awesome.”
The numbers behind the win are the most striking part of Pegula’s season. It was her 45th match victory of 2026, more than anyone else on tour, and the 300th tour-level main-draw win of her career. It was also the 13th meeting of a rivalry Swiatek still leads, though Pegula now holds six of those wins, five of them on hard courts — the surface where the Pole’s margins are thinnest and Pegula’s flat, early-strike returning does the most damage.
Gauff’s route was considerably shorter. The fourth seed dismissed unseeded Czech teenager Sara Bejlek 6-4, 6-1 in 76 minutes, breaking twice in a one-sided second set as Bejlek’s error count climbed. Bejlek had already taken out world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and Madison Keys to reach the last four; against Gauff she found no way through.
Two Americans who know each other far too well
This is not a novelty pairing. Pegula and Gauff played doubles together through 2022 and 2023, winning five titles from eight finals, and they arrive at a Sunday final having spent years on the same practice courts, the same Billie Jean King Cup teams and the same flights.
The singles head-to-head sits at 5-4 to Pegula, who is 3-1 against Gauff on hard courts. The recent trend runs the other way: Gauff has taken three of the last four, including the 2025 Wuhan final and a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 quarter-final at Wimbledon this summer.
- Pegula: second Cincinnati final in three years, having lost the 2024 title match to Sabalenka; ninth WTA 1000 final of her career
- Gauff: the 2023 Cincinnati champion, with 24 WTA 1000 main-draw wins already in 2026
“Jess is a great person,” Gauff said. “She was one of the older players who, when I arrived on the tour, was very kind to me from the beginning.” Pegula, for her part, had called the prospect “really cool and memorable” before it was confirmed: “I’m always rooting for American tennis.”
A dress rehearsal for Flushing Meadows
The timing is the point. The US Open begins on 30 August, and American women’s tennis will roll into New York with its two highest-ranked players having just cleared out the field in Ohio — Swiatek, Sabalenka and Keys all beaten inside the same week.
For Gauff, the most consequential change is invisible on the scoreboard. Her double-fault rate has fallen from 10% last season to 7.9% in 2026, the direct product of a service-motion rebuild that cost her matches before it started winning them. A serve that no longer collapses under pressure removes the one reliable escape route opponents had.
For Pegula, at 32, the case is different and she has heard it made for her. She noted this week that a reporter had told her sustained excellence was “way more impressive than getting hot for two weeks and winning a Slam” — a backhanded compliment for a player still chasing a first major, and one she is now positioned to answer. A title here would move her to No. 2 in the Race to the WTA Finals.
Sunday’s champion leaves Cincinnati with the trophy. Both leave it as genuine US Open contenders.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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