Guadalajara Open Akron: Jessica Pegula prevails over Maria Sakkari to claim her first WTA 1000 title

Both players walked onto the court looking to win their maiden WTA 1000 trophy, their first title of the season and second of their career. In the end, Jessica Pegula proved the better player by beating the 27-year-old Greek 6-2, 6-3 after just one hour and ten minutes of play.

Maria Sakkari advanced to the championship match, having secured a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Marie Bouzková of the Czech Republic in the rain-delayed semifinal just a few hours before the final.

The match had a cagey start, with both players evenly matched until 2-2 in the opening set. However, Jessica Pegula took control of the game to win 16 of the following 19 points with her explosive groundstrokes and deep returns.

The 28-year-old American continued with her winning ways in the second set and raced to a commanding 5-2 lead. Maria Sakkari managed to regain control for a brief moment and made it 5-3, but Pegula finished off the match with a fierce backhand strike to claim the first WTA title of her career.

Jessica Pegula served three aces, won 79% of the points on the first serve and broke the serve of her Greek opponent five times from eight opportunities. In contrast, No. 4 seed Maria Sakkari served two aces, won 49% of the points on the first serve and earned one breakpoint.

After the victory, Jessica Pegula said, "Just a lot of emotions, but super excited just to get a big title next to my name. That was something I really wanted this year, and I kept saying it was one of my goals, so to be able to accomplish it at the end of the year is cool."

The victory improved the win-loss record of Jessica Pegula for the season to 41-17, with only Iga Swiatek with 62 wins and Ons Jabeur with 46 victories, winning more WTA main-draw matches than Jessica Pegula this season.