Jessica Pegula is two wins away from successfully defending her WTA 1000 title in Canada.
At last year’s Montreal Open, Jessica Pegula came in off the back of a quarter-final appearance at Wimbledon.
Continuing on her impressive streak, she reached her third consecutive Canadian Open semi-final by beating Yulia Putintseva, Jasmine Paolini and Coco Gauff, before defeating Iga Swiatek, for the second time that year.
She went on to thrash 15th seed Liudmila Samsonova 6–1, 6–0 to win the title, and this year in Toronto, has started her hard court seasons in similar bullish fashion.
Despite early exits at both the Olympics and Wimbledon, Pegula is back on the surface she’s historically had the most success on, and has already bruised past compatriots Ashlyn Krueger and Peyton Stearns.
Pegula however has been honest about her recent form, and with both the wind causing havoc and semi-final opponent Diana Shnaider in tantalizing form, she has assessed her own performances in Canada so far.
Jessica Pegula gives her opinion on her tennis level at this year’s Toronto Open
With Shnaider dumping out Coco Gauff, before Amanda Anisimova stunned Aryna Sabalenka, the two 2023 US Open finalists have fallen and Pegula remains the highest seed remaining.
Acknowledging the unpredictable nature of the tournament so far, she spoke in her press conference after her quarter-final win and her form this year compared to last.
“I would say I was probably playing better last year,” she admitted, “But to be fair it seems weird this week, I don’t think anyone’s playing great tennis, it’s been kind of ugly matches, I don’t really know why.
“I think we are back to the regular duty, lighter balls that are flying a little bit more on us and obviously the last couple days with the conditions, they’ve just even really really tough, so it’s hard to kind of base and give a true feeling of how I’m playing.”
A difficult opener against former number one Karolina Pliskova was arguably a sterner test than her following matches.
“I feel like my first round against Pliskova I played at a high level, I feel like in doubles I’ve played at a pretty high level, but the last two singles matches with the conditions, have been tricky to kind of gauge.
“I mean last year in Montreal I played some really good tennis and yes it was a great week. So it’s hard to compare, but everyday is kind of a new day with tennis so you never know how you’re going to go out there and play and you always have the next day to improve and play better, so I’m just trying to work my way back up there, especially with not a lot of hard court wins under my belt yet.”
Can Jessica Pegula beat Diana Shnaider?
With some more straightforward opening round matches, Pegula is yet to face a player inside the top 45.
The prospect of the dazzling Olympic doubles silver medalist Shnaider, is undoubtedly nerve-racking for Pegula, not least after the Russian thrashed Gauff in some style.
Many dubbed the match a major upset, and it was certainly a small surprise, but for those who’ve watched the young Russian in the past few months, she has simply looked marvellous.
Rocking her trademark blue polka-dot bandana, the Russian has managed to outwork and outsmart those right at the top of the WTA Tour, and has reached the top 20 in the WTA live rankings for the first time in her career.
Pegula’s experience and style has served her well in Canada and she does still come in the favourite.
However, don’t be too surprised if Pegula’s big ball-striking becomes neutralized early on and she crashes out.
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
