Coco Gauff dismantled Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-4 on Sunday night to win her second Cincinnati Open title, becoming only the third woman in the Open Era to claim the Rookwood Cup more than once.
The 22-year-old, seeded fourth, was untouchable from the first ball. Gauff won the opening five games and never looked back, overpowering the third-seeded Pegula in one hour and 14 minutes in what was the first all-American women's final at the Cincinnati Open since 1970, when Rosie Casals defeated Nancy Richey in straight sets at the Cincinnati Tennis Club.
"This was probably my most dominant tournament — either here or Wuhan," Gauff said on court after lifting the trophy. "For the sake of my own mind and body, I was trying to get these done in two sets."
The statistics told the story. Gauff broke Pegula five times from six opportunities and won 65 percent of her first-serve points to Pegula's 47. She conceded just 19 receiving points across the entire match, suffocating her compatriot's service games with aggressive returns that kept Pegula scrambling from corner to corner.
Pegula, who is now a two-time Cincinnati runner-up after her loss in the 2024 final, acknowledged she was simply outplayed. "I thought the level she was playing at was extremely high," Pegula said. "It was tough today."
The pattern in both sets was nearly identical. Gauff raced to 5-0 and 5-2 respectively before Pegula mounted brief rallies, clawing back to 5-2 in the opener and 5-4 in the second. Each time, Gauff snuffed out the momentum with an immediate break, sealing the match when Pegula netted a forehand on the first championship point.
By joining Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka as the only multiple-time Cincinnati champions in the Open Era, Gauff further cemented her status as the dominant force in American tennis. It is her 12th career title and fourth at WTA 1000 level, and it marked her first singles trophy since defeating Pegula in the 2025 Wuhan Open.
The victory also extended a remarkable streak. Gauff has now won nine of her last 10 matches and claimed 12 consecutive sets after dropping the first set against Liudmila Samsonova in the round of 64 on August 16. Over that stretch, she won 73 of 105 games.
Perhaps most significant is the timing. Gauff's first Cincinnati title in 2023 preceded her maiden Grand Slam triumph at the US Open by just three weeks. With this second Rookwood Cup, she heads to Flushing Meadows as the form player in women's tennis, carrying a 40-win season and the confidence of four top-10 victories in 2026.
Sources
- https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/tennis/2026/08/23/coco-gauff-jessica-pegula-cincinnati-open-title/91435405007/
- https://www.tennismajors.com/wta-tour-news/coco-gauff-downs-jessica-pegula-to-win-second-cincinnati-title-859284.html
