American Jessica Pegula raced past Liudmila Samsonova 6-0 6-1 in the final of the Omnium Banque Nationale in Montreal to win her third career title and second at the WTA 1000 level.
In contrast to their three previous meetings that were all three-setters, Sunday’s Montreal final was super short as Pegula needed just 49 minutes to dispatch Samsonova, who entered the title match shortly after rallying from a set down in her rain-delayed semifinal against Elena Rybakina, 1-6 6-1 6-2.
The world No.18 Samsonova had spent a tournament-leading 9 hours and 48 minutes on court entering the final, so Pegula was in an advantageous position. Having started the Omnium Banque Nationale with a 1-5 record vs. Top 15 players, Samsonova eliminated as many as three Top 15 opponents this week — No.2 Sabalenka (R16), No.13 Bencic (QF) and No.4 Elena Rybakina (SF). The Russian had no more gas in the tank to add to that list the world No.3 Pegula, who did not lose a single point behind her first serve in the final.
Pegula’s winning apparel: the Adidas Women’s Fall Dress Pro and Adidas Barricade Arctic Fusion/White Women’s Tennis Shoes. Her racquet is Yonex Ezone 98.
I am really annoyed that this is being presented as a great victory for Pegula and she is going on about how great it is. As you mention, because of the schedule there was no way Samsonova could win. Everyone is always going on about what a great person she is but I think a great person would have acknowledged the disadvantage Samsonova was under and maybe not celebrated quite so loudly. The whole situation was very unfair. Also Rybakina had to play Samsonova having finished at 3am the previous day and got to bed at 5. not fair either. So a big fail for that tournament as far as I am concerned. If they had to reschedule because of rain they should have done it in such a way not to disadvantage one player.
CLT, Rybakina actually said that the tournament scheduling absolutely destroyed her. She blamed it on the WTA and their weak leadership, not really on the tournament organizers. She also said that this year there were many situation that she couldn’t quite understand.