Sevastova Stuns Pegula in Montreal Comeback After Years Away
Let me tell you what just went down in Montreal—because if you blinked, you might’ve missed a pretty incredible story. Anastasija Sevastova, the 35-year-old from Latvia, just pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the Canadian Open. She took down Jessica Pegula, who not only came in as the No. 3 seed, but was also the two-time defending champion. Yeah, that streak’s over. Pegula had won 11 straight matches in Canada, a run that hadn’t been matched since Serena Williams dominated this tournament over a decade ago.
Now, here’s where it gets even more remarkable: Sevastova is ranked No. 386 in the world. She wasn’t even supposed to be in the main draw, but got in using a protected ranking due to a tough knee injury she’d been battling. On top of that, she’s only played 24 tour-level matches in the last four years—and had lost her last seven matches against Top 5 players. So when she dropped the first set 3-6, most probably assumed Pegula would cruise through.
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But Sevastova flipped the script. She started clawing back, breaking Pegula late in the second set and holding off three break points to close it out 6-4. By the third set? She was rolling. Pegula looked out of sorts, racking up 63 unforced errors—her most in a match this year—while Sevastova looked sharper with every point. She ended up closing it out 6-1 in the third, winning in just over an hour and 40 minutes.
Sevastova admitted even she couldn’t quite explain how it all came together. “Somehow, I was down 2-0 in the second set and started to play better and better,” she said after the match. “Just trying to stay on court as long as possible.”
Keep in mind, this was only her third win in a row—something she hadn’t done in four years. And she hasn’t beaten a top-five player since 2017. That all changed today. Now, she’s into the Round of 16 at a WTA 1000 event for the first time since 2021, and she’s set to face Naomi Osaka next—another star making a comeback of her own after maternity leave.
For Sevastova, who once wasn’t even sure she’d walk again without pain, this is already a win. But with the way she’s playing, don’t be surprised if the story isn’t over yet.
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