Jessica Pegula won the seventh WTA title of her career after beating McCartney Kessler in the ATX Open final.
Pegula made history at the ATX Open even before winning the title, and then beat her compatriot to add to her already decorated resume.
Despite being a WTA 250 level tournament, the ATX Open attracted big interest that included A-list celebrities praising Pegula for her victories.
There is often discussion surrounding Pegula’s wealth, with her father the owner of NFL team Buffalo Bills.
While this often comes with critique, Pegula has been praised for her latest actions that came after winning the title in Austin.
Jessica Pegula praised for inviting ATX Open finalists on private jet to Indian Wells
Not only was the singles final taking place at the ATX Open, but the doubles final that the aforementioned Kessler also featured in.
The winners of the doubles final were Yue Yuan and Anna Blinkova, who beat the pairing of Kessler and Shuai Zhang.
After the match, 2024 ATX Open singles champion Yuan took to Chinese social media platform Weibo to reveal that Pegula had actually invited all of the finalists onto her private jet to Indian Wells.
Yuan appeared very grateful for this gesture as she explained that otherwise she would have spent nine hours on the road to California the following day.
It was not just Yuan that appreciated this from Pegula, with fans praising the American for the use of her wealth.
One person on X (formerly known as Twitter) said, “She didn’t have to do that so give her some credit (clapping emojis).”
Another added, “The world’s best billionaire I swear.”
An additional person said, “This is how you should use the privilege to do something good.”
While others just praised the world number four for her general character, after helping others out.
A social media user said, “This awesome from Jess.”
Followed by, “I love jess she’s so kind.”
Another echoed this sentiment with, “Jessie is so great.”
Could Jessica Pegula continue her momentum onto Indian Wells?
With Pegula and the rest of the ATX Open finalists now in California, the attention quickly turns to Indian Wells.
Although she is an American player, Indian Wells is one of Pegula’s worst performing WTA 1000 tournaments with just a 50% win record.
She made her debut at the tournament in 2012 as an 18-year-old, but did not return into the main draw until seven years later.
Pegula’s best result at the tournament came in 2021 when she reached the quarter-finals before losing to Victoria Azarenka, who has made recent headlines herself.
However, she suffered a disappointing defeat at the tournament last year following a second round loss to Anna Blinkova.
| Year | Result |
| 2012 | Lost in the first round to Magdalena Rybarikova, 5-7 6-3 6-3 |
| 2019 | Lost in the second round to Lesia Tsurenko (24), 3-6 7-5 6-4 |
| 2021 | Lost in the quarter-final to Victoria Azarenka (27), 6-4 6-2 |
| 2022 | Lost in the second round to Marie Bouzkova, 5-7 6-2 6-0 |
| 2023 | Lost in the fourth round to Petra Kvitova (15), 6-2 3-6 7-6(11) |
| 2024 | Lost in the second round to Anna Blinkova, 6-2 3-6 6-3 |
There may be some signs of encouragement for Pegula this year, with Indian Wells changing their surface for the first time in 25 years.
The main draw of the 2025 edition of Indian Wells will get underway on Wednesday March 5.
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