Jessica Pegula Completes Perfect Week In Austin With First Title Of 2025 Season
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Jessica Pegula enjoyed a great week at the 2025 ATX Open in Austin. She was able to end up with the champion's trophy in her hands.
Pegula had a very interesting start to the season. She is one of the most consistent players on the WTA Tour, which showed in her first event. The American player reached the Adelaide International final, losing only to Madison Keys.
But then, the 31-year-old player didn't manage to put together a streak of more than two won matches. She made it to the third round at the Australian Open. Then, Pegula won two matches in Doha as well, and in Dubai, she won only one match.
Her next event on the calendar was the ATX Open in Austin. In 2025, it was her lowest-tier event so far, as the tournament in Texas is a WTA 250 event. That's the reason why her compatriot Madison Keys had to withdraw from this year's ATX Open.
The WTA allows only one Top 10 player per WTA 250 event, which wasn't the case when Keys initially planned to play in Austin. But since she won the Australian Open, the American became a Top 10 player, like her compatriot Pegula.
Since Pegula was the higher-ranked player on the entry list, and Keys was the one whose circumstances changed, the 2025 Australian Open champion withdrew from the tournament.
That meant Pegula's highest-possible opponent in Austin was the 13th-ranked Diana Shnaider. But she didn't even have to face the Russian player.
The 2024 US Open finalist beat Arantxa Rus, Nuria Parrizas Diaz, Anna Blinkova, and Ajla Tomljanovic to reach the final at the WTA 250 tournament. Her final opponent was the fifth-seeded McCartney Kessler.
Kessler enjoyed a great week herself, and she was looking to extend it even further. Despite being the first broken player in the final, the 25-year-old player turned around a 0-2 deficit and got to a 4-2 lead.
But Kessler wasn't able to keep that lead for too long. Pegula broke back, and at 5-4 and 30-15, she was only two points away from winning the first set. But that wasn't enough for her, as she had to fear for her lead when she was down a break point at 5-5.
Still, Pegula handled her nerves much better at the end of the second set. She won all of the crucial points to win the opening set 7-5, which proved to be crucial.
After winning the first set of the match, Pegula was much calmer in the second set. She broke her opponent's serve three times and dominated on the court to win the final 7-5, 6-2, lifting her first trophy of the season. It was also Pegula's seventh career title.
