Gauff takes control immediately
There was little doubt about which player settled first in the all-American final.
Gauff attacked Pegula’s serve from the opening games, defended aggressively from the baseline and prevented her opponent from finding the rhythm that had carried her through the tournament. According to The Guardian’s report from the Cincinnati final, Gauff completed a 6-2, 6-4 victory to win the tournament for the second time in her career.
The first set disappeared quickly. Gauff consistently forced Pegula to play an extra ball and punished shorter replies, while her own service games were considerably more controlled than during some of the difficult periods of the previous season.
Pegula improved in the second set and threatened to turn the match into a much longer battle, but Gauff repeatedly found the better tennis on the important points. She closed the match in straight sets without allowing the momentum to shift completely.
It was Gauff’s first title of the 2026 season and the fourth WTA 1000 trophy of her career.
One lost set in an extraordinary week
The most impressive part of Gauff’s Cincinnati run was not simply the final.
Her tournament actually began badly. Liudmila Samsonova won the opening set of their match, leaving Gauff immediately under pressure. From that point until the final, however, the American won 10 consecutive sets.
That sequence is particularly significant because Cincinnati is traditionally one of the hardest events immediately before the US Open. Players are facing elite opposition while simultaneously trying to avoid exhausting themselves days before the final Grand Slam of the season.
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Gauff managed both.
Her movement remained one of her greatest weapons, but the difference was how frequently she was able to begin points on her own terms rather than immediately defending after an unstable serve. That has been one of the central projects of her development over the past year.
The victory also carries personal significance. Gauff won her first Cincinnati title in 2023, just weeks before going on to capture her first Grand Slam singles title at the US Open. Three years later, she has repeated the first half of that sequence.
The serve has been rebuilt
For much of 2025, Gauff’s serve became one of the most discussed parts of her game.
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Double faults repeatedly appeared at important moments, particularly under pressure. The technical problems were significant enough that before the 2025 US Open she brought biomechanics specialist Gavin MacMillan into her team to help reconstruct the motion.
The work was never designed as a quick fix.
Rather than simply changing where she tossed the ball, Gauff and MacMillan worked on the mechanics of the entire movement, attempting to create something more repeatable when matches became tense. The results have not eliminated every double fault, but Cincinnati offered perhaps the clearest evidence yet that she can now manage difficult service games without allowing one mistake to become three.
That matters because the rest of Gauff’s game has rarely been the problem. Her court coverage remains among the best on tour, her backhand can absorb and redirect enormous pace, and her ability to turn defence into attack makes it extremely difficult to hit through her.
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A more reliable first strike changes the equation considerably.
New York now looks very different
The timing of the title immediately changes the conversation around Gauff before the US Open.
She will arrive in New York as the reigning Cincinnati champion rather than simply another contender searching for form. The official US Open schedule has the singles main draw beginning on August 30, giving Gauff less than a week between lifting the trophy in Ohio and beginning her Grand Slam campaign.
That short turnaround means recovery will now be as important as practice.
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But Cincinnati has answered several sporting questions already. Gauff has won her first title of the season, handled five straight matches after dropping her opening set and beaten another elite American in straight sets in the final.
Three years ago, Cincinnati became the launchpad for her first US Open title.
This time she reaches New York as a more established champion, and with the part of her game that caused the most concern last season finally looking considerably more stable.
