Alexandra Eala beats Jessica Pegula from a set down to win her first tour title in Washington
Six. That is how many games in a row Alexandra Eala won to close out the Washington final, sweeping the third set 6-0 after trailing by a set. Eala beat top seed and world number three Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 for her first tour-level title, at 21 and ranked 28.
The numbers explain how a set down turned into six straight games. Pegula hit four aces to Eala's none and put more first serves in, 65 percent to 64, but it barely showed in the score: Eala won 84 percent of her first-serve points and closed out 49 of her 70 service points, 70 percent, while taking 80 of the match's 141 total points to Pegula's 61. Eala converted five of her nine break points; Pegula two of three.
The first set turned late. Pegula broke in the fifth game, Eala broke straight back to level at 3-3, but Pegula broke again in the ninth and served out the set 4-6. Eala answered in kind, breaking in the tenth game of the second to close it out 6-4, and from there the match ran away from Pegula: three straight breaks from Eala, in the second, fourth and sixth games of the decider, produced six games in a row and a 6-0 set. It took two match points to finish, Pegula saving one.
The title is the first of Eala's career at tour level: two Challenger trophies came before it, and one tour-level final was lost before this one, so at 21 and ranked 28 this was her second appearance in a tour final. She reached it by beating Qinwen Zheng from a set down in the opening round, then three seeds in a row: seventh seed Leylah Fernandez 6-2, 7-6(1) in the second round, second seed Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-4 in the quarter-final and third seed Naomi Osaka 6-4, 6-2 in the semi-final. Pegula, seed one and 38-9 for the season with titles already won in Dubai and Charleston, won the title here in 2019. The two players have now split their two meetings 1-1: Pegula won the only previous one, in last year's Miami semi-final, 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-3.
Match tale, 3 August 2026, sources: Washington, api-tennis