{"id":1781919,"date":"2026-02-20T16:30:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T13:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1781919"},"modified":"2026-02-20T16:30:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T13:30:37","slug":"jessica-pegula-joins-two-tennis-icons-in-exclusive-wta-1000-club-after-battling-dubai-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1781919","title":{"rendered":"Jessica Pegula joins two tennis icons in exclusive WTA 1000 club after battling Dubai victory"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"ps-article-content rounded-lg lg:mt-5 lg:border lg:border-card lg:bg-card lg:shadow-primary\">\n<header>\n<h1 class=\"py-4 text-xl font-normal text-title sm:text-2xl\">Jessica Pegula joins two tennis icons in exclusive WTA 1000 club after battling Dubai victory<\/h1>\n<div class=\"my-2 flex items-center justify-between\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/author\/oli-dickson-jefford\" class=\"text-sm font-normal !text-author\"><br \/>\n                            Oli Dickson Jefford                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <time class=\"ml-3 text-sm font-normal text-info md:ml-4\" datetime=\"20 Feb 2026 4:30 PM\" data-ps-date=\"20 Feb 2026 4:30 PM\" data-ps-datetime=\"1771605037\"><br \/>\n                            20 Feb 2026 4:30 PM                        <\/time>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden justify-end space-x-4 text-xl sm:flex sm:!opacity-100\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/facts-stats\/jessica-pegula-joins-two-tennis-icons-exclusive-wta-1000-club-battling-dubai-victory\" class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" aria-label=\"Share to facebook\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Ffacts-stats%2Fjessica-pegula-joins-two-tennis-icons-exclusive-wta-1000-club-battling-dubai-victory\" class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" aria-label=\"Share to twitter\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Ffacts-stats%2Fjessica-pegula-joins-two-tennis-icons-exclusive-wta-1000-club-battling-dubai-victory\" class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" aria-label=\"Share to linkedin\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/\/send\/?text=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Ffacts-stats%2Fjessica-pegula-joins-two-tennis-icons-exclusive-wta-1000-club-battling-dubai-victory\" aria-label=\"Share to whatsapp\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/share.flipboard.com\/bookmarklet\/popout?v=2&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Ffacts-stats%2Fjessica-pegula-joins-two-tennis-icons-exclusive-wta-1000-club-battling-dubai-victory\" aria-label=\"Share to flipboard\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"sm:hidden flex items-center space-x-5\">\n                        <a class=\"!text-share-icon hover:!text-share-icon-active flex items-center justify-center\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" aria-label=\"Follow Tennis365 on Google Search\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <button id=\"t365-article-share-btn\" class=\"mr-2 hidden h-6 w-6 appearance-none border-none !text-share-icon outline-none hover:!text-share-icon-active sm:hidden\" data-title=\"Jessica Pegula joins two tennis icons in exclusive WTA 1000 club after battling Dubai victory\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/button>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5 border-b border-page\"><\/div>\n<section>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5\">\n<figure class=\"aspect-h-9 aspect-w-16 relative\">\n                                        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1320\" height=\"742\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"w-full h-full object-cover object-center !my-0\" src=\"https:\/\/d2me2qg8dfiw8u.cloudfront.net\/content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Jessica-Pegula-during-her-match-1320x742.jpg\" alt=\"Pictured: Jessica Pegula during her match\">                <\/figure><figcaption class=\"flex items-center space-x-3 border-b border-mobile-caption px-3 lg:border-caption\">\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-1.5 break-words !text-xs !text-content\">\n                                Jessica Pegula during her match                            <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<div class=\"ciam-article-t365\">\n<p>Jessica Pegula battled past Amanda Anisimova to reach the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships, and join two all-time greats in an exclusive WTA 1000 club.<\/p>\n<p>World No 5 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/jessica-pegula\">Pegula<\/a> battled past world No 6 and compatriot <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/amanda-anisimova\">Anisimova<\/a> to reach her first final in Dubai and her first final of the 2026 season, prevailing 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 against the two-time Grand Slam finalist.<\/p>\n<p>Anisimova was dominant in the opening set of the match and twice held a break lead in the second set, as she looked to pick up her first win in five meetings against Pegula.<\/p>\n<p>However, it was the higher-ranked of the two Americans who eventually sealed victory, battling back in set two before a sole break in the decider helped guide Pegula to victory.<\/p>\n<p>She said: \u201cAt the start of the third, it was 1-1, and I just looked at my coach and said: \u2018I\u2019m just happy I\u2019m still even here right now.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe was playing some incredible tennis. I just came out a little slow, and when you come out slow against Amanda, she can really just kinda wipe you off the court \u2014 which is what she was doing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHonestly, I\u2019m not really sure. I think I just held onto my serve there in the second set, I just kept telling myself that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had some break points in the first set, even though it was convincingly the other way, and I knew I could get some break points back. That\u2019s really all I was focusing on.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Tennis News<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/taylor-fritz-warned-hes-making-stupid-decision-as-former-top-10-star-issues-injury-warning\">Taylor Fritz warned he\u2019s making \u2018stupid\u2019 decision as former top-10 star issues injury warning<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/alex-eala-speaks-coco-gauff-loss-dubai-championships-2026\">Alex Eala gets honest about \u2018gap\u2019 to Coco Gauff after heavy Dubai Championships loss<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Pegula has now reached an impressive eighth WTA 1000 final of her career, with a 3-4 win-loss record in her previous seven finals at this level.<\/p>\n<p>This is her fifth WTA 1000 final since turning 30 in February 2024, and she is now only the third woman to reach that many finals at this level after her 30th birthday.<\/p>\n<p>Since the introduction of the Tier 1\/WTA 1000 format in 1990, only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/serena-williams\">Serena Williams<\/a> (16 finals) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/martina-navratilova\">Martina Navratilova<\/a> (seven finals) have also reached that many finals at this level after turning 30.<\/p>\n<p>Pegula was previously level on four finals with former world No 2 Li Na.<\/p>\n<p>The American is also the third-oldest woman to reach the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships, aged 31 years and 356 days at the start of the event.<\/p>\n<p>Since the tournament was first held in 2001, only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/venus-williams\">Venus Williams<\/a> (2014) and Nathalie Tauziat (2001) have reached the final at an older age.<\/p>\n<p>Pegula will celebrate her 32nd birthday next Tuesday (February 24th) and was asked in her post-match interview whether victory would prove to be the perfect gift.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, that would be an amazing birthday present,\u201d joked Pegula. \u201cI\u2019m not going to mention how old I\u2019m turning, but it\u2019s getting to where I don\u2019t want to talk about it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m really excited to be in my first final here. I came here with the intention of thinking I could play well in these conditions and go deep, so I\u2019m just really happy that I can give myself a shot at the title tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Want more from Tennis365? Add us as <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\">a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Read Next<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/mirra-andreeva-dubai-championships-prize-money-ranking-points-title-defence-ends\">Mirra Andreeva\u2019s Dubai Championships prize money &amp; ranking points as title defence ends<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jessica Pegula joins two tennis icons in exclusive WTA 1000 club after battling Dubai victory Oli Dickson Jefford 20 Feb 2026 4:30 PM Jessica Pegula during her match Jessica Pegula battled past Amanda Anisimova to reach the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships, and join two all-time greats in an exclusive WTA 1000 club. World [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,249],"class_list":["post-1781919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-tennis365-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1781919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781919\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1781919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1781919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1781919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}