Pegula and Sinner win Canadian Open titles
Tennis players Jannik Sinner and Jessica Pegula cruised to straight-set wins in the finals of the Canadian Open. Women’s fourth seed Pegula needed just 49 minutes to defeat No 15 seed Liudmila Samsonova of Russia 6-1, 6-0. She earned her second career WTA 1000-level title and became the first American woman to win the event since Serena Williams in 2013. Pegula had an easy time handling a clearly exhausted Samsonova, who was the victim of uneven scheduling due to weather delays throughout the week. Samsonova had to play her semi-final match earlier Sunday afternoon and ousted third-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 in an hour and 43 minutes. "I think everyone needs to give [Samsonova] a round of applause because she's played like five matches in three days," Pegula said in her on-court interview. Pegula smashed five aces, won all 19 of her first-service points and converted five of eight break-point opportunities while never facing break point herself. She ended up winning 51 of the match's 72 total points. Meanwhile in the men’s side of the draw, Italian seventh seed Jannik Sinner secured his first Masters 1000 title with a dominant 6-4 6-1 win over Australian Alex de Minaur. Sinner, appearing in his third Masters 1000 final after runner-up efforts at the Miami Open in 2021 and this year, broke De Minaur five times and saved two of four break points to lift the biggest title of his career. The 21-year-old Italian felt his ability to deal with pressure-packed situations helped him to navigate past De Minaur. "I am getting used to difficult situations. I was a break up a couple times and he broke back but I tried to stay calm mentally. I was prepared for a long battle," Sinner, the first Italian to win the event, said during his on-court interview. (Reuters)