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Coco Gauff beat Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-4 in one hour and 14 minutes to win her second Cincinnati Open title, joining Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka as the only women in the Open Era to win the tournament twice. It was the first all-American final in Cincinnati since 1970 and Gauff’s first title of 2026. Arthur Fils beat Frances Tiafoe for the men’s title.
Mason, United States: Three years ago Coco Gauff won here and then won the US Open a week later. On Sunday night at the Lindner Family Tennis Center she lifted the Rookwood Cup again, and the parallel is impossible to ignore.
Gauff came into this tournament with a 40-13 record for the season and no title to show for it. She leaves with a WTA 1000 trophy, twelve consecutive sets won in Ohio, and a place in company that includes only two other players.
Five Games, and It Was Done
The final was over as a contest almost immediately. Gauff won the first five games, converting three of four break points while her groundstrokes moved Pegula from one side of the baseline to the other and back. The opening set went 6-2.
She broke early in the second and never surrendered the initiative, closing it 6-4. Pegula, who had come through three-set matches against Amanda Anisimova and Iga Swiatek to get here, found no way through. She likened her opponent’s play to hitting against a wall, and the analogy fit — Gauff has spent this fortnight coming forward more than she used to, having said she did not realise how good she was at the net until Wimbledon.
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Seventy-four minutes, and a tenth career meeting between two players who once won three WTA 1000 titles together as a doubles pair. Pegula had led the head-to-head 5-4 going in. It is level now.
The Week That Built It
Gauff’s run was not flawless. She lost the opening set of her first match, going down 2-6 to Liudmila Samsonova before recovering 6-4, 6-1 over two hours and six minutes. From that point she won twelve consecutive sets and conceded just 32 games across them.
Ann Li went 6-1, 7-6 (3). Marie Bouzkova went 6-3, 6-2. Marta Kostyuk was broken six times in a 6-2, 6-2 quarterfinal that took 70 minutes. Sara Bejlek — the 20-year-old who had removed Aryna Sabalenka, Barbora Krejcikova and Madison Keys on the way to her first WTA 1000 semifinal — was beaten 6-4, 6-1, broken six times from seven chances.
An Exclusive List
Only Azarenka, champion in 2013 and 2020, and Serena Williams, who won back-to-back in 2014 and 2015, had previously won this tournament twice in the Open Era. Gauff’s 2023 and 2026 titles put her third on that list at 22.
For Pegula, 32, it matches her best Cincinnati result — she also lost the 2024 final, to Sabalenka. Her week included wins over the defending champion Swiatek and Anisimova, and she arrived in the final having spent considerably longer on court.
New York Next
The last time Gauff won here, she went to Flushing Meadows and won her maiden Grand Slam. Asked whether this fortnight pointed the same way, she stopped short of predicting it — a sensible position, but one that will not stop anyone else making the connection. She is now on the shortlist of favourites for the US Open.
The men’s title went to Arthur Fils, who beat Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 1-6, 6-0 for his first Masters 1000 crown, Tiafoe having taken a medical timeout during the match. Fils praised Gauff’s performance when he spoke to reporters afterwards.
Result: Coco Gauff d. Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-4
Men’s final: Arthur Fils d. Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 1-6, 6-0
Venue: Lindner Family Tennis Center, Mason, Ohio
