Quebec memories linger for NBO champ Pegula

Take 2018, for example, when the eloquent American reached her first top-tier final in Quebec City – as a qualifier ranked outside the Top 200. Pegula had already undergone knee and hip surgery by then.

“Oh, my gosh, that does seem like another lifetime,” she said with a smile in a conversation with nationalbankopen.com.

On the way to the final in La Vieille Capitale, Pegula topped an Ons Jabeur ranked outside the Top 100 in the last WTA stop contested on (fast) carpet.

“It was kind of a breakout tournament a bit for us and then we both started to go up in the rankings,” said Pegula. “I loved that tournament. I thought it was so fun. I always kind of played well there. It was definitely a breakthrough on tour for me.”

Fast forward and the pair indeed soared to new heights, becoming Top 10 regulars and Grand Slam finalists.

Pegula flourished in Quebec again by winning the National Bank Open presented by Rogers in Montreal in 2023, then backed it up in Toronto last year.  

While Jabeur recently announced she was taking a break from tennis, Pegula bids for a rare three-peat at the NBO. How rare? The only woman to achieve the feat in the Open Era is Monica Seles, who won four in a row from 1995-1998.  

The 31-year-old isn’t getting ahead of herself. She’s been around long enough to know that looking ahead often spells disaster.

And besides, her form hasn’t been the best lately.

Entering Wimbledon off the back of a 500-level title in Germany, Pegula was upset in the first round by Elisabetta Cocciaretto in London. In her next tournament last week in Washington, Pegula fell in her opener to Leylah annie Fernandez, who would go on to become the champion.

Pegula admitted the defeat to Cocciaretto stung. As for Washington, “D.C. was tough, but hey, I lost to the player who ended up winning the tournament. You can’t be that upset. She was playing great tennis and beat a lot of great players, and I still had chances to win that match.”

“I tried to come in here with just the mindset that I always play well here. Try to harness that as much as I can and just compete and not worry about what’s happened in the last couple of matches, because at the end of the day it can turn around this week and I want to enjoy this swing.

“I won this tournament two times now. Not a lot of people can say that and it’s pretty cool to be back and to just appreciate the fans, the tournament, and being the defending champion.”

Pegula knows she has a ton of points to defend on the North American hard courts. After her triumph in Toronto, Pegula battled to the final in Cincinnati, then ended her quarter-final Grand Slam jinx by advancing to the finale at the US Open with only one set lost.

At the same time, bagging three titles already in 2025 and making two other finals gives Pegula a little padding if disaster strikes in the next few weeks.

“It’s not like I haven’t been doing that well and all of a sudden I have to defend all these points or else my ranking is really going to drop,” said the world no. 4. “But when you are a top player, you have to defend points. That’s just how it goes. A good problem to have. It means you’re playing good, and it’s kind of more of something you have to earn to be able to say that.

“I try to look at it from that perspective, that I’ve earned the right to say I have a lot of points to defend.”

Perhaps Pegula’s lack of recent wins – not to mention playing a first match at a tournament and against a former Top 10 player – contributed to a shaky start Wednesday against Maria Sakkari.

The contest turned after Pegula saved five set points serving at 4-5 in the first.

Up next on Friday is one of the tour’s increasing number of moms, Anastasija Sevastova. When asked if she would ever consider starting a family, then returning to the tennis tour, Pegula, who got married in 2021, didn’t have to think long.

“If I do have kids, I will not be returning to the tour. No, I’d be done for sure,” she laughed. 

Photo: Pascal Ratthé