American fourth seed Jessica Pegula sent a warning shot to her competitors ahead of the US Open as she romped to a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Liudmila Samsonova in the Canadian Open final on Sunday in Montreal for her first title of the season.
While Pegula played lights-out tennis from the start she also had an edge given Samsonova had to play the match about two hours after upsetting third seed Elena Rybakina in a rain-postponed semifinal clash meant to be played on Saturday.
"It's tough, it sucks, I feel bad that we weren't able to play on a more fair playing ground," Pegula said after securing her second WTA 1000 title.
Pegula, who beat doubles partner Coco Gauff and world No. 1 Iga Swiatek on the way to the final, was clearly the more rested of the two players and it did not take long for the unfortunate scheduling to show its impact.
The top-ranked American won a remarkable 100 per cent of her first-serve points, broke Samsonova five times and never faced a break point while wrapping up the one-sided victory in 49 minutes.
Pegula was in control throughout as she went up a double break before closing out the first set on her serve and faced no resistance from Samsonova in the second set.
Pegula was well aware of the edge she carried into the match and made sure to credit the Russian 15th seed, whose path to the final also included a win over reigning Australian Open champion and world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka.
"She had some amazing, two top-10 wins beating two girls that are some of the best players in world, top five right now, and wining Grand Slams," said Pegula.
"To me, she should be a top-10 player, hopefully she gets there and she's had great results. So kudos to her and I feel bad that it wasn't the way it should have been but I guess that's just the way it goes sometimes."
Italian seventh seed Jannik Sinner secured his first Masters 1000 title with a dominant 6-4, 6-1 win over Australian Alex de Minaur in the men's final.
Sinner, appearing in his third Masters 1000 final after runner-up efforts at the Miami Open in 2021 and this year, broke De Minaur five times and saved two of four break points to lift the biggest title of his career.
The 21-year-old Italian, who enjoyed a run to the Wimbledon semi-finals last month, felt his ability to deal with pressure-packed situations helped him to navigate past De Minaur.
"I am getting used to difficult situations. I was a break up a couple times and he broke back but I tried to stay calm mentally. I was prepared for a long battle," Sinner, the first Italian to win the event, said during his on-court interview.
"In the second set I played a little bit better, I raised the level a little but and I tried to stay a little more aggressive ... I am very happy about my level today."
