Citi Open 2019

Jessica Pegula, 2019 Citi Open (Photo: Mike Renz for TennisAtlantic.com)

American Jess Pegula Storms into Citi Open Women’s Final
Steve Fogleman in Washington

I’ve seen her in tennis club cafeterias at ITF events and witnessed her trying to qualify for bigger tournaments countless times throughout the United States, but I saw Jessica Pegula do something different today: make the final of a WTA international level tournament. She did so by defeating the qualifier Anna Kalinskaya, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in a Citi Open Women’s Semifinal in Washington.

The first set was all Pegula, and Kalinskaya required a medical timeout to deal with cramping before holding her own through the second and pushing the third set. There was nothing left in Kalinskaya’s tank at that point and Pegula took the finale in a breezy 6-1 affair.

Anna Kalinskaya 2019 Citi Open (Photo: Mike Renz for TennisAtlantic.com)

Tour level success has been elusive for Pegula thus far for the 25-year-old Buffalo, New York native. Since turning pro in 2013, she’s only enjoyed one such final appearance: on the carpet in Quebec last year where she fell to Pauline Parmentier. She’s a rich girl, and she’s gone too far, storming all the way into the vaunted final of the Citi Open, where the likes of Magdalena Rybarikova, Sloane Stephens and Svetlana Kuznetsova have won glory, if not household notoriety.

Jess Pegula, 2019 Citi Open (Photo: Mike Renz)

Looking ahead to tomorrow, Pegula has a 2-1 head to head record against Camila Giorgi, but the two haven’t met in match play in seven years. She’s 1-1 against Caty McNally, having beaten then 16-year-old McNally on clay last year in Tampa in straight sets before losing to now 17-year-old McNally in straight sets on the hard courts of Midland, Texas.

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The @CocoGauff Show at @CitiOpen Was Even Better Than I Expected
Steve Fogleman in Washington

Qualifying has a familiar refrain in tournaments the size of Citi Open in Washington. Qualifying rounds on day one are full of matches, but strangely, it’s also a relaxing day for the press because interviews are sparse and post-match press conferences are almost unheard of. Previous qualifying crowded matches historically followed University of Virginia men or other local institutions like the Junior Tennis Champions Center, but not today. The buzz around Coco Gauff today was almost unprecedented in my coverage as a blogger over nine years, what with a full-blown post-match presser and Big Camera everywhere beaming her throughout the D.C. universe and all over the world.

Attendance at her Stadium affair today against Maegan Manasse was massive, easily the biggest crowd to ever witness a first round WTA qualifying match at Citi Open, and I’ve been every year, including the one in College Park, Maryland while the men were playing the last Legg Mason Tennis Classic here in 2011. The only crowd as big as the one at Gauff’s first match since Wimbledon that was arguably as large was the crowd that cheered on Sloane Stephens in the 2015 Women’s Final. It wasn’t just the numbers, it was the post-match cacophonous scrum of juvenalia acquiring autographs and snapping selfies that was straight out of the US Open–or SW 19. It was Wimbledon on the Potomac today.

Coco Gauff, 2019 Citi Open (TennisAtlantic.com)

ATP Qualifying, 2019 Citi Open (TennisAtlantic.com)

And how refreshing was it to see the women rule the day for once at this slightly lopsided joint tournament, a WTA International analogous to an ATP 250 tournament to the men’s 500 on the same courts? Not only were these raucous netheads straight out of Fed Cup, but the Stadium EMPTIED OUT before the players had even come out on court for the following ATP qualifying match between Michael Mmoh and xxxx, I’m sorry, one Gleb Sakharov. Exciting time to be alive in men’s qualifying, isn’t it?

It was the reverse of every Sunday finals at the event since the WTA Citi Open in College Park and the Legg Mason Tennis Classic were conjoined by Donald Dell in 2012. It was Bizarro World to show my age. And it was long overdue. Here’s to a repeat tomorrow.

I woke up this morning knowing that everyone else would write about Gauff and I was determined to reflect on everything else going on at the Citi Open, and I tried. Francesca DiLorenzo and Victoria Duval played a very close match with DiLo prevailing 6-4, 6-3. Fanny Stollar and Xioadi You fought a brutal three-setter and the heat clearly took a toll on both of them but the look in the eyes of the eyes of the diminutive You said everything. You see those qualifying eyes when a competitor loses and knows they could’ve won if they hadn’t run out of gas first. It’s a marathon for players, tourney staff, fans and bloggers alike and that’s all we need to remember after this fabulous first day of a nine day hike in Rock Creek Park. And the name Coco Gauff.