Five straight games, and the final was already gone
Pegula lost her first two service games. By the time she found her footing, Coco Gauff led 5-0 and the Cincinnati Open final was effectively decided. The American closed it out 6-2, 6-4 on Sunday in Mason, Ohio.
Gauff dropped serve once, when she tried to serve out the opening set. She broke straight back. The second set followed the same script: an early break, a 3-0 lead, then a pair of traded breaks to finish things off.
The numbers explain the rest. Gauff converted five of her six break points and won 52 percent of her return points against Pegula’s 39 percent. She spent the afternoon attacking second serves and rarely let Pegula settle behind her own.
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A first title of 2026, and a place next to Serena
This was Gauff’s first trophy of the season and the 12th of her career. She had won in Cincinnati once before, in 2023, and turned that run into her maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open a few weeks later.
The repeat puts her in short company. Only Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka had previously won multiple singles titles at the event.
Her week was close to flawless after a shaky start. Liudmila Samsonova pushed her to three sets in the round of 64. Nobody took a set off her after that.
Pegula waits, and the US Open looms
Gauff was the fourth seed here, Pegula the third. The world No. 3 was chasing a third title of 2026 after Dubai and Charleston, and a 12th career trophy of her own. The two Americans have now met ten times and split them 5-5.
Gauff, 22, took the microphone afterwards and turned it towards her opponent. “I’d like to thank Jess. When I first came on tour, she was one of the few players that was nice to me,” she said. “That’s always stuck a long way with me and my family. I have so much respect for you.”
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