The recently concluded Rogers Cup in Canada saw a repeat of a 2008 feat by two of the biggest American players, exactly 15 years later. In the WTA event in Montreal, tennis billionaire heiress Jessica Pegula not only won the tournament but also beat World No.1 Iga Swiatek in the semi-final. Back in 2008, Serena Williams had beaten the then No.1 Justin Henin in the Miami Open.
While in the ATP event in Toronto, Tommy Paul grabbed eyeballs during his run to the semi-finals by defeating the men’s singles World No.1, Carlos Alcaraz. Whereas, in Miami 2008, Andy Roddick had upset the best player in the world, Roger Federer. Both of the victories were achieved at the quarterfinals stage. This was the second time that a pair of American male and female players defeated the top-ranked players in their respective categories that too in the same week. It has been after 801 weeks to be precise that the record has been replicated.
Serena Williams and Andy Roddick would be proud Jessica Pegula came into the Rogers Cup as the 4th seed in the women’s singles draw. She had an impressive run, getting the better of her doubles partner, Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals. As a result, defeating Swiatek in the semifinals cannot be really called an ‘upset’ win.
Pegula won the first set 6-2. However, she lost her way towards the end of the second set, losing by a 3-point margin in the tie-breaker. Yet she managed to scrap through to win the deciding set, 6-4 to make it to the final. She took on the 15th seed from Russia, Liudmila Samsonova and demolished her, 6-1, 6-0 to take home the title for the first time in her career. This is Pegula’s 3rd WTA title win of her career.
Up next is Tommy Paul in the men’s draw. Paul gained a lot of confidence, defeating the man who upset Holger Rune, Marcus Giron, 6-3, 6-2 in the Round of 16. Although not many predicted a win for the American rising star against Carlos Alcaraz, Paul proved many wrong. In fact, it seemed that he had planned for the match well, as he had beaten the Spaniard last year in the same tournament.
Paul was aggressive from the beginning, taking the first set, 6-3. Reading Alcaraz’s drop shots well proved to be the biggest difference in the result of the match. The 20-year-old did bounce back to win the second set, 6-4 but Paul remained in control to take the deciding set, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Eventually, the American lost to Jannik Sinner in the semifinals, who went on to win the men’s singles title.
Remarkably, there are lot of similarities between 2008 Miami and 2023 Canada. In 2008, Serena Williams ensured that Justin Henin, one of her biggest rivals, proved to be no match in a 6-2, 6-0 win. Like Pegula did in Montreal, Serena had already back then beaten a World No.1 on her way to win the title. The American legend defeated Swetlana Kuznetsova and Jelena Jankovic in back-to-back matches that followed.
Similarly, Andy Roddick made the most of Roger Federer’s ‘dry’ spell as the Swiss maestro struggled to win titles after the US Open 2007. Roddick beat Federer 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals, which did open up the draw since the then defending champion, Novak Djokovic was knocked out in the second round itself. The US Open 2003 winner admitted lightheartedly after the match that he ‘only had a few hairs left’ as he couldn’t remember the last time he had beaten the 20-time Grand Slam champion.
However, Roddick could not capitalize on his win as he lost to Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko in the semifinals. Much like Paul in Toronto recently, 2008 also saw the American who knocked out the No.1 men’s player, getting beaten himself in the next round. Additionally, both the players who beat Roddick and Paul, went on to lift the title. Davydenko had beaten Rafael Nadal in the final.
Are Americans best placed for a US Open title in years? With the US Open coming up, it seems as if the women’s singles draw is wide open again. With the Montreal win, Jessica Pegula has announced herself as not just the top seeded player, but the biggest favorite to win the Grand Slam on home soil. If Pegula wins, it would end a 6-year wait for New York City to see an American woman lift the Cup. The last instance of this happening was Sloane Stephens famously beating another American, Madison Keys in the 2017 final.
Stephens and Keys will be participating this year as well. However, the tennis community might mostly put their bets more on Pegula and Coco Gauff. Gauff has been in good rhythm and well-prepared due to the number of matches she has played in recent times. One can never count out the great Venus Williams either, who practized recently at the Rafa Nadal Academy, to prepare for the big occasion.
In the men’s draw, Taylor Fritz is all set to lead the American charge yet again. However, Fritz will be accompanied by Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton, Sebastian Korda and most probably the unseeded, Chris Eubanks, all of whom are extremely talented on outdoor hard courts. Even then, it would take a brave person to predict on an American male winning the US Open, with this feat not being achieved in 20 years. Andy Roddick was the last to win, having beaten the then World No.1 Juan Carlos Ferrero in the 2003 final to take home his only Grand Slam title and a $1 million paycheck.
Despite the recent Canada feat, American tennis still has a long way to go when it comes to seeing glory days that had the likes of Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, Michael Chang, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Jennifer Capriati and Lindsay Davenport used to consistently winning either Grand Slams or big titles. Will the likes of Pegula and Paul change that in this North American swing? Time will tell.
