Jessica Pegula vs. Alexandra Eala | 2026 Washington, DC Final | WTA Match Highlights

From the Bahamas, former doubles player. Good finish. Moving away from her to get hold of it. Controls. Footing it over to Canada a little bit later on. What a return. Straight out of her playbook. That is absolutely world class. Grabs the return winner. 61% on second return during the tournament. And how about that? It's another return stunner. From Alex Ayala. One hand on the DC trophy. Her second title here. Looking good at the moment. The top seed with a good recovery in the opening sets. Alex Ayala has given everything as usual. Lovely control from... But Ayala will be climbing at least four places. Really aggressive start from the Filipina. A second break for Ayala. Delivers the second set. We are off to three in the DC final. Ayala has come out all guns blazing today. And she deserves that. She's been the better player since the resumption. She's got the momentum at the moment. Alex Ayala. Super point from the top seed. It's been a little cooler so the ball moves through the air differently. All Ayala at the moment. And Pegula has got to try and find a way. It's Ayala's magical moment. The moment she has dreamt of. A first ever tour title. Delivered in DC. 500 glory for this magical young Filipina. A final played over two days in tricky circumstances. But it's Ayala who dealt with it all much better. Pegula's dream of a second DC crown has dashed. It's been snatched from her ruthlessly. The top seed outplayed and outgunned by this sensational young talent. The first of many, I am sure. Savor this moment, Alex Ayala. Seventh top ten win this season as well for the Filipina. Good afternoon, everyone. Oh my gosh, where do I start? First of all, of course, first and foremost, congratulations, Jesse. For an amazing week and you've had an amazing season. It's always a pleasure to share the court with you. I definitely learned so, so much. Especially from your forehand lines and your backhand crosses. So I'm really looking forward to hopefully many more finals with you. Thank you, Jess. There's a long list of people I want to thank. And at the top of that list is my family. My mom, my dad, my brother. My team, Joanne, who's over there. Yuk and Sandro, thank you guys. They're my inner circle. They're the ones who are putting in the work every day with me. Who make me feel like I'm not enduring alone or putting in the hard work alone because I know they're right there with me. So thank you guys. I want to thank the medical staff here and the WTA medical staff and the tournament medical staff for helping me throughout the week. I want to thank the tournament, Mark, and the sponsors, Mubadala, for such an accommodating week, an amazing tournament. And moving the final to Monday was no easy feat, but super memorable. So congratulations on a great tournament. And of course, to all my supporters, thank you, guys. So thank you. Thank you to all my supporters, especially the Filipino community. I really, guys, I feel all the love. Maraming maraming salamat, mga kababayan. Maraming salamat. Yeah, before the final yesterday, actually, I got so many messages, sweet messages from my family and from my friends who are on tour or wherever else in the world. And, you know, I thought to myself, I feel so much love. So standing here in the middle of all this love, my first chance at the title, knowing it won't be my last and already having achieved this feat and this milestone for my career, I knew that whatever would have happened after this match, it would have already been a win for me. So thank you, everybody. And I really look forward to seeing you guys again.