American Jessica Pegula won her first WTA title after beating Maria Saccari 6-2 6-3 last night in the Guadalajara Open final, in the 1,000 points category.
The third seed, who will make his ATP Finals debut in Texas this month, beat four Grand Slam winners on the way to the final, taking just 70 minutes to beat Sakkari.
“After all these games that I have won, in my opinion, it was my hardest draw ever, honestly, so I was a little angry when I heard about the draw,” said Pegula, who beat Victoria Azarenka, Elena Rybakina, Bianca Andreescu and Sloane Stephens in the previous rounds in Guadalajara.
“But I was able to face the situation during the tournament and I controlled my nerves and my emotions, I am very proud of myself.”
Pegula unleashed her potential after a 2-2 draw en route to the first set, breaking twice to advance 5-2 in the next set as fourth-seed Sakkari struggled with unforced errors.
Pegula scored five of her eight break points against Sakkari, who played her second game of the day, previously beating Marie Bozkova after a semi-final was postponed due to rain.
This is Pegula’s 41st win in the main draw of this year’s WTA Championships, and is surpassed only by world number one Iga Chiantek (62 wins) and Tunisian second seed Anas Jabeur (46).
Pegula will rise to third place in the world rankings.
