2026 champion Jessica Pegula took a moment to address the Dubai player withdrawal controversy, pointing out that the tournament still featured some top-class tennis.
Just a day before the Dubai draw release, world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and second-ranked Iga Swiatek pulled out of the United Arab Emirates 1000-category event. The tournament's player withdrawal list also included Victoria Mboko, Naomi Osaka, Madison Keys, and Belinda Bencic.
The numerous high-profile player withdrawals even made Dubai tournament director Salah Tahlak angry, who proposed players that get "docked points" in such cases.
However, this year's Dubai tournament edition still didn't lack talent in its latter stage as four top-10 players made the semifinal – Pegula, Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova, and Elina Svitolina. And the semifinal action was quite thrilling after Pegula recovered from a set and a break down to beat Anisimova, while Svitolina edged out Gauff after three hours and three minutes in one of the most dramatic matches of the year.
On Saturday, Pegula collected her first Dubai title after beating No. 7 seed Svitolina 6-2 6-4.
Pegula: Just because we are missing a few players it doesn't mean we still can't put on some great tennis
"We talked about all these withdrawals. But I mean we had four top-10 girls in the semis. We had a few more in the quarters. Even when you have a lot of players withdrawing, just because we're missing a few it doesn't mean that we still can't put on some great tennis," the world No. 5 said in her post-final press conference.
Jessica Pegula: We talked about all these withdrawals. But I mean we had 4 top-10 girls in the semis. We had a few more in the quarters. Even when you have a lot of players withdrawing, just because we're missing a few it doesn't mean that we still can't put on some great tennis pic.twitter.com/Xbw1kczEpf
— Reem Abulleil (@ReemAbulleil) February 21, 2026
Meanwhile, Pegula's collection now includes 10 WTA titles and four WTA 1000 trophies.
