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Pegula extends dominance over Anisimova, reaches Dubai final
This was the 31-year-old’s second final appearance in a WTA event since August 2025, with the rest of the five tournaments during this period seeing her reach at least the semis
- PUBLISHED: Fri 20 Feb 2026, 8:42 PM UPDATED: Fri 20 Feb 2026, 11:41 PM
Jessica Pegula can’t stop producing high-quality tennis. On Friday, the American bounced back from a poor start to beat compatriot Amanda Anisimova 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 to reach the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships final.
This was the 31-year-old’s second final appearance in a WTA event since August 2025, with the rest of the five tournaments, including the US Open and the Australian Open, during this period seeing her reach at least the semis.
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The daughter of American billionaire Terry Pegula has credited her rich vein of form to the rigorous hard work that she and her coaching staff have put in since 2025.
The willingness to keep working hard was evident on the Dubai Centre Court after the world number five was blown away by Anisimova’s power-game in the first set.
Anisimova, runner-up at Wimbledon and the US Open last year, who fired seven aces in the match, looked set for an easy win when she took a 3-1 lead in the second set.
But Pegula fought back, breaking the world number 6 twice to take the second set and force a decider.
Then, in the fourth game of the third set, Pegula broke Anisimova again to take control before holding her nerve to extend her perfect head-to-head record against her younger American rival to 5-0.
"Yeah, that was a really tough match, tough turnaround. I just kept telling myself to try and keep holding and find a couple different serves, get some momentum," she said.
"Luckily I did kind of in the nick of time. Then I was able to put pressure on her serve right away and slowly turn the match around."
This was also Pegula’s second straight win over the 24-year-old Anisimova, having won their quarterfinal game at the Australian Open last month.
But Pegula says the rivalry is not as lopsided as the head-to-head record suggests.
"We've played a lot of times, but every time it's really tough. It's not like I'm killing her every single time," she said.
"I know what I can do to bother her game. I just felt like I couldn't quite get into that yet, like as the first set went. I feel like I just need to get to that part where I'm starting to bother her with my strategy and what I'm doing.
"She was doing a very good job of not letting me get there. It was a little bit of that. Once I dug in, maybe she lost her timing a little bit, I was kind of able to take my opportunity to do what I know probably bothers her.
"So yeah, I think in that sense, knowing that it works, that it's worked in the past, obviously helps. I don't think you're really thinking about the record, but just from past experiences."
Pegula will now take on Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, a two-time Dubai champion, in the final on Saturday.
"We always have really tough matches. We play similar styles. I think a little bit of counter-punching, but we can play aggressive. We're very solid off both wings. I feel like with her it's always a mix of trying to be aggressive but not overplaying because she also moves pretty well and has some good defense," Pegula said of Svitolina.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Vera Zvonareva and Laura Siegemund of Germany will take on Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Luisa Stefani of Brazil in the doubles final on Saturday.
Zvonareva and Siegemund beat the Romanian pair Jaqueline Cristian and Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3 7-6 (8/6) in the first semifinal, and Dabrowski and Stefani overcame Aleksandra Krunić of Serbia and Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan 4-6 6-2 10-6.
Rituraj Borkakoty is Sports Editor and has spent more than two decades writing on his sporting heroes. He also loves an underdog story, so if you have one, share it with him. He would love to bring it to life.
