All-American Women’s Final

By Richard Osborn

Preview: Pegula vs. Gauff in Cincy blockbuster

[3] JESSICA PEGULA (USA) VS. [4] COCO GAUFF (USA)
NOT BEFORE 7 P.M. | P&G STADIUM COURT

The most consistent player on the WTA Tour in 2026? Jessica Pegula, of course. It shouldn’t come as much surprise given the Buffalonian’s steadiness the past few years.

Pegula’s tour-best 45th match win of the year — the 300th of her career — came on Saturday at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, where she snuffed Pole Iga Swiatek’s hopes for a title defense in three sets, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. Thanks to that trademark consistency, she’s now into her second Cincinnati Open final in three years. While at 32 still making some big strides in her game — the serve, the return, the corner-to-corner coverage, etc. — it might just be that aspect that she’s most proud of.

“Everyone’s always complimentary of my consistency, and even though I know I haven’t won a Slam yet, that I’m not winning every single 1000, I do think that my ability to win a lot is also a really hard thing to do,” said Pegula, a US Open finalist in 2024.

“A reporter said something to me like, ‘I think what you do is way more impressive than getting hot for two weeks and winning a Slam, even though that’s amazing. That can happen to anybody, but it takes a certain special someone to really be able to perform day in and day out, and carry that pressure with them throughout the year.’ I thought that was such a different perspective I hadn’t really thought of before.”

That steadiness is what got Pegula here in 2024, when after a successful title defense in Toronto she reached back-to-back finals at the Cincinnati Open and US Open, coming up just short against Aryna Sabalenka on both occasions.

She’ll get another shot at the Rookwood Cup on Sunday, when she takes on 2023 Cincinnati Open champ Coco Gauff in a historic, all-U.S. final. You’d have to turn back the clock to 1970 to find the last time two American women played for the title here, when Rosie Casals defeated Nancy Richey, 6-3, 6-3.

“We know how Coco has been playing,” said Pegula. “Super solid. Her serve looks good. She’s being aggressive when she needs to. She’s being defensive when she needs to. I feel like she’s just been playing very straightforward, solid, hardcore tennis. I know she’s done well on clay, but to me, she’s also an amazing hard-court player.”
Though only Elena Rybakina (25) has won more WTA 1000 main-draw matches than Gauff (24) in 2026, she is still seeking her first title of the year. What would it mean for her to get it on Sunday?

“It’d be cool, because I’ve had a couple of semis and finals this year,” said Gauff, who let a match point opportunity slip away at Wimbledon in her semifinal against Czech Karolina Muchova. “But I’m not putting too much weight on it. I feel like I’m really confident in my game and it’s just another challenge for me to get better.”

In the veteran Pegula, Gauff will be facing a player who took her under her wing when she first joined the tour. Though Pegula holds a slight 5-4 edge in the head-to-heads, it was Gauff who claimed their most recent outing, a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 quarterfinal last month at Wimbledon.

“She’s super nice person. I think one of the more laid-back players on tour,” said Gauff, 10 years Pegula’s junior. “She’s definitely the ultimate competitor, can fight her butt off on court and still be friendly and nice off the court. I always respect players who know that. You can be both a good person and a great competitor. As an opponent, she’s super tough and plays aggressive. She’s one of the cleanest ball-strikers, very underrated mover, gets a lot of balls back. We had a really tough one at Wimbledon, and I imagine it to be the same here.”

Gauff and Pegula teamed up in doubles for much of the 2022-23 seasons, winning five titles in eight final appearances.