{"id":2077019,"date":"2026-08-04T13:00:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T10:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2077019"},"modified":"2026-08-04T13:00:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T10:00:49","slug":"jessica-pegula-pinpoints-the-major-change-alex-eala-made-in-the-washington-open-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2077019","title":{"rendered":"Jessica Pegula pinpoints the major change Alex Eala made in the Washington Open final"},"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 pinpoints the major change Alex Eala made in the Washington Open final<\/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\/liam-mcmillen\" class=\"text-sm font-normal !text-author\"><br \/>\n                            Liam McMillen                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <time class=\"ml-3 text-sm font-normal text-info md:ml-4\" datetime=\"04 Aug 2026 2:00 PM\" data-ps-date=\"04 Aug 2026 2:00 PM\" data-ps-datetime=\"1785848449\"><br \/>\n                            04 Aug 2026 2:00 PM                        <\/time>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden justify-end space-x-4 text-xl sm:flex sm:!opacity-100\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto !my-0 hidden dark:block h-6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/content\/themes\/tennis365-sportsui\/img\/png\/preferred_source_badge_dark.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"76\" height=\"24\"><br \/>\n                            <img 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                      <a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto !my-0 hidden dark:block h-6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/content\/themes\/tennis365-sportsui\/img\/png\/preferred_source_badge_dark.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"76\" height=\"24\"><br \/>\n                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto !my-0 dark:hidden h-6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/content\/themes\/tennis365-sportsui\/img\/png\/preferred_source_badge_light.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"76\" height=\"24\"><br \/>\n                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <button id=\"t365-article-share-btn-hidden\" 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 pinpoints the major change Alex Eala made in the Washington Open final\"><\/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\/08\/Jessica-Pegula-and-Alex-Eala-ahead-of-Washington-DC-Open-final-1320x742.jpg\" alt=\"Pictured: Jessica Pegula and Alex Eala ahead of Washington DC Open final\">                <\/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 and Alex Eala ahead of Washington DC Open final                            <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<div class=\"ciam-article-t365\"><!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p>The Washington Open final between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/jessica-pegula\">Jessica Pegula<\/a> and Alex Eala endured its fair share of drama as the pair battled it out for the WTA 500 title.<\/p>\n<p>The match was forced into postponement after a thunder storm hit the United States capital, so the final was forced to play a day later on the Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The match was derailed when Pegula was a set up, with the second set on serve, and the American was the overwhelming favourite to lift the trophy as a result.<\/p>\n<p>That didn\u2019t happen, as Pegula produced a strange performance on the Monday and Eala took full advantage of it.<\/p>\n<p>She took the next two sets 6-4, 6-0 against an out-of-sorts Pegula to claim the first WTA title of her career.<\/p>\n<p>Pegula hit plenty of unforced errors as the final resumed, and she struggled to deal with the Filipina star\u2019s serve.<\/p>\n<p>The American addressed her difficulties against Eala during her post-match press conference.<\/p>\n<h2>More Alex Eala news<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-features\/who-alex-ealas-coach-washington-open-champions-confidant-masterminding-rise\">Who is Alex Eala\u2019s coach? The Washington Open champion\u2019s \u2018confidant\u2019 masterminding her rise<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-features\/top-atp-coach-reveals-first-thing-players-washington-champion-alex-eala\">Top ATP coach reveals the first thing players should do against Washington champion Alex Eala<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor whatever reason it felt like I was returning much better yesterday than I was today. I do feel like today she was going more for percentage than trying to go bigger and hit her spot, so I was seeing less second serves,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/jessica-pegula\">Pegula<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the warm-up, I think everyone that plays her would probably be working on a slower serve because her serve is definitely slower and you always practice how the person plays, so if they have a big serve I am practicing with people who are hitting their serve bigger, so I was trying to do more of that today which didn\u2019t really seem to help very much!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both Pegula and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/alex-eala\">Eala<\/a> will now head to the Canadian Open a day later, where they will presumably get the campaigns underway on Wednesday\u2019s order of play.<\/p>\n<p>Eala is set to play <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/alycia-parks\">Alycia Parks<\/a> in the second round of the tournament, after receiving a first round bye due to her seeding. Parks beat qualifier Victoria Jim\u00e9nez Kasintseva to set up the match with Eala.<\/p>\n<p>Parks will begin the match ranked 41 places below Eala in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/WTA-Tour\">WTA Tour<\/a> rankings, as the Filipina star has risen to world No 20 following her Washington triumph, although Parks has tasted victory against the 21-year-old star.<\/p>\n<p>The American dispatched Eala in the first round of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/australian-open\">Australian Open<\/a> at the beginning of the 2026 season, by a scoreline of 0-6, 6-3, 6-2.<\/p>\n<p>Pegula, meanwhile, will be looking to bounce back from her Washington Open heartbreak by defeating Magdalena Frech in the second round of the Toronto event, after the Pole defeated L\u00e9olia Jeanjean in her first round match.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Article End --><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jessica Pegula pinpoints the major change Alex Eala made in the Washington Open final Liam McMillen 04 Aug 2026 2:00 PM Jessica Pegula and Alex Eala ahead of Washington DC Open final The Washington Open final between Jessica Pegula and Alex Eala endured its fair share of drama as the pair battled it out for [&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-2077019","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\/2077019","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=2077019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2077019\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2077019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2077019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2077019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}