TORONTO (AP) — Jessica Pegula has returned to the final of the National Bank Open tournament that she won last summer.
The Buffalo-born Pegula who has won five singles titles on the WTA Tour beat No. 14 seed Diana Shnaider of Russia 6-4, 6-3 in her semifinal match Sunday. Pegula, seeded third, will now face Amanda Anisimova, a fellow American ranked No. 132 in the world, in Monday night’s title match.
“Getting a chance to defend my title is something that doesn’t always happen, so I’m excited that I get to put myself in a good spot tomorrow to do so,” Pegula said. “I think it’s cool to have my name with a lot of other really big names in history that have either played well here or been able to defend the title as well, so it’s super special.”
Pegula beat the No. 1 player in the world on her way to winning last year’s National Bank Open in Montreal. She became the first American woman since Serena Williams a decade earlier to win the singles title in Canada.
Anisimova took a mental-health break from tennis last year. The 22-year-old player has two WTA Tour titles — in 2019 in Bogota and 2022 in Melbourne.
“I didn’t want to finish my career on that note,” she said. “I had sacrificed so much and given so much to the sport.”
She has beaten four top-20 players to reach the final — No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 12 Daria Kasatakina, No. 15 Navarro and No. 17 Anna Kalinskaya. On Saturday, Anisimova beat second-seeded Sabalenka 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals for her first victory over a top-10 player in nearly two years.
“I was trying to fight,” Anisimova said. “I’m just happy with how I was able to pull through.”