Jannik Sinner and Jessica Pegula were crowned Canadian Open winners with a pair of dominant straight-sets victories in their respective finals on Sunday.
Twenty-one-year-old Sinner took just one hour and 30 minutes to defeat Australia's Alex de Minaur 6-4 6-1, while Pegula crushed Liudmila Samsonova 6-1 6-0.
Both Sinner and De Minaur were going in search of their maiden Masters titles in the men's singles final, as the Australian took to the court for his first-ever ATP 1000 showpiece match.
De Minaur had stunned the likes of Cameron Norrie, Taylor Fritz and Daniil Medvedev to set up a clash with Sinner, who had already finished as runner-up at the 2021 and 2023 Miami Opens, but the gulf in quality was evident throughout the 90 minutes.
Sinner was pegged back twice by De Minaur in the first set, with both men registering two breaks apiece, before an error-strewn service game from the latter in the 10th gifted Sinner the opener.
The duo exchanged holds to begin the second set, but Sinner soon found a ruthless streak, as despite landing only a third of his first serves, he embarked on a stellar five-game winning streak to become a Masters champion for the first time.
"It means a lot. It is a great result. One I can share with all the people who are close to me every day," the Italian said on the court. "It is a nice moment to share with them and we are doing the right things. This result makes us feel good, stronger and hungry to work even harder in the future
"I felt the pressure, but I think I handled it very well. Trying to play point after point. Treating everyone with respect on the court, so I am happy with how I handled the situation."
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Later in the day, women's world number three Pegula followed up her successes over Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek with a ruthless display against Samsonova, who had barely any time to recover from her weather-affected semi-final win over Elena Rybakina.
Pegula showed no mercy to her beleaguered opponent, as after two straightforward holds for both, the American won the next five games on the bounce as she restricted the world number 15 to just six points on serve.
Aided by a few double faults from the Russian, Pegula clinched her second WTA 1000 crown in some style, inflicting a bagel on Samsonova to add to her Guadalajara Open title from 2022.
The 29-year-old's triumph also marked her first WTA Tour crown at any level in 2023, having lost her opening final of the year to Swiatek in February's Qatar Open, while she becomes the first American in 10 years to win the Canadian Open since Serena Williams in 2013.
"We're out on tour to win tournaments and to win titles every single week, but tennis can be really tough where you sometimes lose a lot," Pegula said.
"Even when you're winning a lot of matches, you're still not winning tournaments, so it can get tough. Winning a week like this week makes it all worth it and makes you want to keep going for more. I'll be right back at it tomorrow in Cincinnati."
Meanwhile, Samsonova has now suffered back-to-back losses in her two WTA finals of the 2023 season, also going down to Belinda Bencic in the Abu Dhabi Open six months ago.
Ben Knapton
