For much of the 2023 season, the talk in women’s tennis has centered around the emergence of the “Big Three” — Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina — and their collective dominance. But, all year long, Jessica Pegula has been ranked in the top five, and has spent a large portion of the season ranked at No. 3. She is also one of the most consistent players on tour.
Pegula reached the quarterfinals at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon as well as made deep runs at many events, but the 29-year-old has largely shrugged off not being part of the conversation with her fellow high-ranking peers. “I think they’ve earned that right,” Pegula said in May. “Hopefully, I can be part of that, but I think either way it’s still great for women’s tennis.”
But after her impressive week in Montreal, it might be hard to not include Pegula going forward. She was all but unstoppable at the Canadian Open, as she recorded wins over her doubles partner Coco Gauff and world No. 1 Swiatek en route to the final. She even overcame a midpoint and instantly viral interruption of “Cotton Eye Joe” over the loudspeaker during the second-set tiebreak in her match against Swiatek.
Looking for her second 1000-level title, Pegula made a statement with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Liudmila Samsonova in just 49 minutes in Sunday’s final. The victory was celebrated in the stadium with the playing of — what else? — “Cotton Eye Joe” as she waved to the crowd.
While Samsonova was clearly fatigued after controversially playing her semifinal match against Rybakina earlier in the day due to inclement weather Saturday, Pegula still left nothing to chance in the championship match — and proved exactly where she belongs in the tennis landscape in the process.
“This is the time to start talking about the Big Four,” said former top-10 player Andrea Petkovic during the Tennis Channel broadcast of the match.
While Pegula herself didn’t make any bold claims afterwards, she was clearly thrilled by the title and her accomplishments throughout the tournament.
“Beating Coco and beating Iga were two really tough wins back-to-back, and being able to do that and then just come out today and play a really clean match was kind of great,” Pegula said Sunday. “Even when you’re winning a lot of matches, you’re still not winning tournaments, so it can get tough. Winning a week like this week makes it all worth it and makes you want to keep going for more.”
Pegula later took to Instagram to…
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