Jessica Pegula Secures Landmark Victory at Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships
Jessica Pegula, the World No.5, delivered a dominant performance on Saturday night to claim the prestigious Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships’ WTA 1000 title. With her 32nd birthday just around the corner, Pegula cruised past Elina Svitolina in straight sets 6-2, 6-4, sealing her 10th WTA title inside only 73 minutes and etching her name in history as the first American winner in more than a decade. The last US player to lift the iconic silver coffee pot trophy was Venus Williams in 2014.
“Yeah, it’s a great birthday present for me. I get to celebrate by flying back home in a few hours, but I’m just super happy to go home with a trophy. It was a great week,” said Jessica Pegula.
Elina Svitolina, the two-time Dubai champion and tournament No.7 seed, battled valiantly but struggled to recover physically after her epic three-set, three-hour semi-final win over World No.4 Coco Gauff the previous evening. The Ukrainian, now ranked No.9, acknowledged both the fatigue and positives of her run:
“I had a great match yesterday. I was very happy with the way I could win that match, so I want to look on this tournament with lots of positives, take only good things. For me, that’s the priority. I played great matches, beat good players. Of course, in a final, it was tough, but Jess is so consistent – she’s a great player and really played great tennis. It is how it is. I’m still happy,” said Elina Svitolina.
Pegula’s aggressive baseline play and strategic net approaches set the tone early, breaking Svitolina’s serve three times in a row to build a 4-1 lead in the first set. Svitolina, visibly drained, could not match Pegula’s precision or intensity.
“It’s not easy. I mean, I did a few more mistakes than usual. Sometimes my footwork was not perfect. Little things like here and there I was short and against top players, you cannot make these kind of mistakes constantly. Against a player like Jess, who is very consistent, you have to always put a lot of pressure, you have to always find the small opportunities. Unfortunately, I was a little bit low mentally and my body was tired,” said Elina Svitolina.
Pegula’s remarkable consistency has been a talking point all season. Having reached six consecutive semi-finals, she had converted only two into finals and previously fell short of the title. But in Dubai, her momentum was unstoppable, especially with her ability to outmaneuver Svitolina by working the angles and keeping the Ukrainian on the run.
“I think I probably felt a little bit better than [Elina] did. Her match last night with Coco was insane – a super high level. I was watching: Two of the best, if not the best, competitors we have on Tour. They put on a show and maybe it benefited me a little bit that I got to be done a little bit earlier,” said Jessica Pegula.
With this victory, Pegula, a 2024 US Open finalist, secures her first tour title outside North America, underlining her adaptability and ambition:
“Today is [my] first [title] outside North America, which is kind of cool. I lost the Madrid final, so that kind of makes it a little bit special – somewhere that’s not in North America. It proves I can play overseas, which is nice. I’ve had some good results here in the past and I’ve always thought I could play well here, so just finally getting over that hurdle is special,” said Jessica Pegula.
Earlier in the evening, the Doubles final saw Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani secure the crown with a commanding 6-1, 6-3 win over Germany’s Laura Siegemund and Russia’s Vera Zvonareva. Dabrowski and Stefani displayed a powerful partnership, ripping through the first set with six consecutive games and showcasing a blend of forceful groundstrokes and delicate net play.
“I’d actually like to just take a second and dedicate this win to my best friend’s father. His name is Mike Smith, and he has been battling cancer for 12 years now, and he is still fighting and I’ve been thinking of him every single day this week and weeks previous. He’s been an inspiration for me, so this was for him tonight,” said Gabriela Dabrowski.
The 26th edition of the annual WTA tournament ran from February 15-21, attracting 16 of the world’s top 20 and 35 of the top 40 ranked female players. Tickets for the 2026 Championships remain available, with prices starting from Dh65. For event details and ticket information, visit dubaidutyfreetennischampionships.com or ticketmaster.ae.
Team V.4-EM-UAE
