Camille Naredo

Jessica Pegula of the United States looks on during a women's singles championship match against Alexandra Eala of the Philippines on the final day of the Mubadala DC Open 2026 at William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center on August 02, 2026 in Washington, DC. Emilee Chinn, Getty Images/AFP

WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 02: Jessica Pegula of the United States looks on during a women's singles championship match against Alexandra Eala of the Philippines on the final day of the Mubadala DC Open 2026 at William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center on August 02, 2026 in Washington, DC.   Emilee Chinn/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Emilee Chinn / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

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Mubadala Citi DC Open 2026 - Final Day

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1785823086683AFP__20260802__2288790488__v1__HighRes__MubadalaCitiDcOpen2026FinalDay.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960" alt="Jessica Pegula of the United States looks on during a women&#x27;s singles championship match against Alexandra Eala of the Philippines on the final day of the Mubadala DC Open 2026 at William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center on August 02, 2026 in Washington, DC. Emilee Chinn, Getty Images/AFP"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Jessica Pegula of the United States looks on during a women&#x27;s singles championship match against Alexandra Eala of the Philippines on the final day of the Mubadala DC Open 2026 at William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center on August 02, 2026 in Washington, DC. <em>Emilee Chinn, Getty Images/AFP</em></span></span></span></div><p>The final of the Mubadala DC Open felt like &quot;two different matches&quot; for top seed Jessica Pegula, who battled eventual champion Alex Eala over the course of two days before coming up short. </p><p>Pegula had built a one-set lead but trailed 1-2 in the second set when thunderstorms forced organizers to cancel the match and reschedule it on Monday. Upon resumption, Eala overturned the deficit and outplayed Pegula en route to a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 triumph.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2026/8/4/tennis-mubadala-dc-open-alex-eala-jessica-pegula-final-result-0059">READ: Alex Eala turns back Pegula, makes history with DC Open title</a></div><p>&quot;Definitely felt like two different matches. I think it kind of was,&quot; said Pegula, after Eala secured her maiden WTA Tour title.</p><p>&quot;I was playing much better yesterday, for whatever reason, than I was today. And I think she was playing better today than she was yesterday. It just kind of flip-flopped, which is part of it,&quot; she added.</p><p>The rain delay that split the final across Sunday and Monday made for an unusual and draining experience for the American, who said the past 24 hours had taken a toll.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s been pretty exhausting, at least for me. It&#x27;s been a long week coming in here without a lot of practice hours under my belt, then playing every single day, and then the long days we&#x27;ve had starting from yesterday,&quot; she said.</p><p>&quot;Now that it&#x27;s all over, I can try and relax a little bit.&quot;</p><p>The unusual circumstances of the match aside, Pegula had nothing but respect for Eala, whom she called an &quot;amazing player&quot; after the final.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2026/8/4/tennis-pegula-hails-amazing-eala-after-battle-in-dc-open-finals-0530">READ: Pegula hails &#x27;amazing&#x27; Eala after battle in DC Open finals</a></div><p>She acknowledged that the young Filipina&#x27;s serve was tougher to handle on Monday than the day before. </p><p>&quot;Yesterday felt like I was returning much better than I was today. I do feel like today she was going more for percentage than trying to go bigger and hit her spots,&quot; she said.</p><p>&quot;In 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.&quot;</p><p>But she gave full credit to Eala, noting the improvements that the Filipina made since her breakout campaign in Miami last March 2025. Pegula had ended Eala&#x27;s campaign then in the semifinals.</p><p>&quot;She&#x27;s a great ball striker, great player, great competitor. This year it seems like she&#x27;s finding more consistency with her results. She&#x27;s beaten quite a few top players this year, including myself,&quot; she said.</p><p>&quot;She&#x27;s tricky to play against. She&#x27;s a lefty, she hits the ball well, she kind of baits you with her lefty serve. I&#x27;ve seen her in the gym a lot — I think she&#x27;s trying to get stronger and move a little bit better, and that&#x27;s stuff that&#x27;s probably just going to come with time.&quot;</p><p>Aside from her skill set, it was Eala&#x27;s composure off the court that caught the eye of the American star.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s so refreshing and nice to see how well she&#x27;s handled all of the fandom and stardom that&#x27;s come with her being from the Philippines and how they&#x27;ve really embraced her. It&#x27;s crazy how she deals with it every single week, which just shows her maturity as a player and as a person,&quot; said Pegula.</p><p>&quot;I have a lot of respect for her, and I like her a lot. I think she&#x27;s a really nice girl. It&#x27;s cool to see what she&#x27;s brought to the women&#x27;s game.&quot;</p><p>Eala has been credited for bringing a new fanbase to tennis and Pegula sees this as a positive.</p><p>&quot;The crowd today was really loud. It was really nice to see a really big turnout for a Monday final,&quot; Pegula said.</p><p>&quot;Even though it didn&#x27;t go my way, it was still a great atmosphere. Like I said in my speech, I&#x27;d rather play in an atmosphere like that than nobody. So I don&#x27;t mind it, really.&quot;</p><div><strong>-- report from Dyan Castillejo, ABS-CBN News</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong></strong><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="960" height="540" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eUFavbtamjc?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>The final of the Mubadala DC Open felt like "two different matches" for top seed Jessica Pegula, who battled eventual champion Alex Eala over the course of two days before coming up short.</p>

The final of the Mubadala DC Open felt like "two different matches" for top seed Jessica Pegula, who battled eventual champion Alex Eala over the course of two days before coming up short.

Pegula breaks down DC Open final loss to Eala: 'Felt like two different matches'

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Pegula breaks down DC Open final loss to Eala: 'Felt like two different matches'

ABS-CBN News

Published August 04, 2026 02:00 PM PHT

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tennis

Mubadala DC Open

Jessica Pegula

Alex Eala

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