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Defending champion Jessica Pegula defeated Diana Schneider 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday to advance to the WTA Toronto Masters final, giving her a chance to become the first player since 2000 to win back-to-back titles at the tournament.
The sixth-ranked Pegula eliminated the 24th-ranked Russian in 83 minutes to set up an all-American final on Monday against Amanda Anisimova, who eliminated eighth-seeded American Emma Navarro 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.
Pegula, a Canadian who is attempting to defend her title for the first time since Martina Hingis in 1999-2000, is now 2-0 against Anisimova, with her most recent victory coming at the Charleston Open in April.
The 20-year-old left-handed Schneider had a break point in the eighth game but won with a forehand winner to give Pegula a 5-3 lead before breaking in the match’s longest rallies of 21 balls, with Schneider winning with a backhand winner to end the match.
Pegula reaches the 13th WTA final of her career, seeking her sixth title and second of the year following the Berlin Open in June.
Schneider eliminated top-seeded American and defending U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff, fresh off a silver medal in doubles at the Paris Olympics.
Anisimova defeated her fourth top-20 opponent of the week to reach her first career WTA final. She also eliminated No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals.
“This is a huge achievement for me and something I’ve been working towards,” Anisimova said. “I’ve had a really good week here and I’m really surprised at how well I’ve performed so far.”
“I’m still hungry for more and hopefully I can have a good performance tomorrow.”
Anisimova, ranked 132nd in the world, became the lowest-ranked finalist at the Canadian Championships in 40 years as she looks to win a third WTA title after Bogota in 2019 and Melbourne in 2022.
Anisimova took a nine-month break from tennis last year due to mental health issues and her world ranking dropped to 373rd at the start of the year, but she has ensured she will be back in the top 50 in the next world rankings.
“I knew when I left that I really wanted to come back, I didn’t want my career to end like this,” Anisimova said.
“I still have a lot of things I want to achieve, I just don’t want it to end at such a young age because I’ve sacrificed so much and given so much to this sport.”
In the deciding set, Navarro hit a forehand to break Anisimova for a 5-2 lead, but Anisimova closed the match with an ace, eliminating her compatriot in one hour and 55 minutes.
In blustery conditions, Anisimova fired 28 game-winning shots to Navarro’s 10.
“It was tough today again, with a lot of wind, and it made it a little hard on my serve,” Navarro said. “In the end, she probably handled it better than I did.”
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