National Bank Open 2023: Jessica Pegula dominates Liudmila Samsonova to claim title

The United States' Jessica Pegula defeated Russia's Liudmila Samsonova 6-1, 6-0 in the women's singles final of the National Bank Open in Montreal on Sunday.

Pegula outclassed her opponent by a wide margin in the decisive match, suffocating Samsonova with her power and energy. The 29-year-old became only the fifth winner of the tournament's women's draw to drop only one game in the final, and the first since Bianca Andreescu won the event in 2019.

"I played a really clean match, I feel like I did enough to where I could play freely until I won the match," Pegula told reporters following the victory. "It was a good day."

Pegula dominated the service game, notching five aces to Samsonova's zero. The Russian double faulted on six occasions, while the American remarkably won 100% of her first serve points.

The 49-minute match was the quickest final (excluding retirements) the WTA Tour has seen since Iga Swiatek beat Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 in Rome in 2021.

Due to weather delays, Samsonova was forced to play both the semifinal and final on Sunday, with only two hours between both matches. She dispatched Elena Rybakina 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 to make it to the final, but she ultimately did not have enough energy to be competitive against Pegula.

"I would love to have had more time, but they said it wasn't possible," Samsonova said following the match. "I believed in myself until 6-1, 3-0, but then I started to feel like it was going to be really hard."