Jessica Pegula of Buffalo, New York has won the 2026 Dubai Tennis Championship. On Saturday, Pegula defeated Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, 6-2, 6-4. Pegula was the fourth seed and Svitolina was the seventh seed.
A key statistic was winning percentage on second serve points. Pegula won 69% of her second serve points, and Svitolina only won 41%. Pegula also saw Svitolina’s serve with regularity. Pegula broke Svitolina four times in 11 opportunities.
Pegula’s most notable grand slam accomplishment was reaching the United States Open final in 2024. There she lost 7-5, 7-5 to Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.
This was Pegula’s fourth WTA title at the 1000 point level. She previously beat Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-2, 6-3 at the 2022 Guadalajara Open, beat Liudmila Samsonova of Russia 6-1, 6-0 at the 2023 National Bank Open in Montreal, and Amanda Anisimova of the United States, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 at the 2024 National Bank Open in Toronto.
Anisimova was arguably Pegula’s toughest opponent in Dubai this past week. In the semifinals, Anisimova took Pegula to three sets before Pegula won 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Over the last month, Pegula has made tennis headlines off the court. According to Sead Dedovic of Tennis World, Pegula has rejected an idea from Australian Open director Craig Tiley. What is being considered is women’s matches at the Australian Open in the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals be best of five sets instead of three.
Pegula spoke out, and said, “no.” Furthermore, she believes all men’s matches should be best of three.
In other tennis news, Pegula has spoken out against the WTA. She opposes an image where her waist was distorted in promoting her final against Svitolina in Dubai.
