The 2024 National Bank Open final in Toronto will be a matchup between two American players: defending champion Jessica Pegula and Amanda Anisimova.
The 22-year-old Amanda Anisimova took a mental health break from competition last season, which caused her WTA ranking to drop outside the Top 350. However, she has made an impressive comeback on the hard-court swing leading up to the US Open. While she played just eleven matches in 2023, she has played ten in the last 16 days, including a quarterfinal run at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington, D.C., as a qualifier, and now reaching the final of the National Bank Open.
In an all-American semifinal held under windy conditions in Toronto, Anisimova defeated the eighth seed, Emma Navarro, 6-3 2-6 6-2. The former world No. 21, now ranked No. 132, has taken down four Top 20 players in Toronto, including No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 12 Daria Kasatkina, No. 15 Navarro, and No. 17 Anna Kalinskaya. This remarkable run makes Anisimova the lowest-ranked finalist at the tournament in 40 years and the second-lowest-ranked finalist in a WTA 1000 event since the format’s introduction 15 years ago.
Anisimova’s opponent in the final will be third seed Jessica Pegula, the defending champion who claimed the title last year by defeating Liudmila Samsonova. In Sunday’s semifinals, Pegula secured her return to the final by defeating Russia’s Diana Shnaider 6-4 6-3, the only non-American among the semifinalists in Toronto.
Monday’s National Bank Open final will mark the third career meeting between Pegula and Anisimova, with Pegula leading their head-to-head 2-0. Pegula enters the match as the favorite, not only due to her positive record against Anisimova and her higher ranking but also because of her exceptional performance at this tournament, where she boasts a 16-2 main-draw record.
