Jessica Pegula and Alex Eala will have to return to court on Monday afternoon after their Washington DC Open final at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center was suspended on Sunday due to lightning and heavy rain.

The showpiece match was due to get underway at 12:00 local time (16:00 GMT, 17:00 BST), but organisers confirmed hours before the start that “play will not resume before 2:45pm EST due to rain and lightning. Everyone on site should seek shelter immediately.”

The weather eventually cleared and players eventually made their way to the court nearly two hours before the original scheduled start time.

World No 3 and top seed Pegula edged the opening set as, after the pair traded breaks midway during the set, the American broke for a second time in game nine and then served it out to love.

They were still on serve in the second set with the score 6-4, 1-2 when it started raining with the initial resumption time set for 5:30pm EST.

WTA News

Play was initially scheduled to resume at 7:00pm and it was confirmed just after 9:00pm that there would be no further action on Sunday with the men’s final between Taylor Fritz and Rafael Jodar also pushed to Monday.

“Matches have been cancelled for tonight,” a message on social media read. “The women’s singles final will now take place at 12:00pm tomorrow.

“The men’s singles final will take place not before 1:00pm tomorrow. Ticketing information to come soon.”

Monday’s Play Time

If the weather is good, then the women’s final will now resume at 12:00pm (16:00 GMT, 17:00 BST) with the men’s final scheduled to start an hour later at 1:00pm (17:00 GMT, 18:00 BST)

Weather Forecast

According to Accuweather, “cloudy and very humid conditions with showers and a heavy thunderstorm” are expected on Monday.

Temperatures are expected to reach a high of 31 degrees Celsius and no rain is expected between 11:00am and 1:00pm local time with the temperatures set to range between 27 and 29 degrees.

What They Said

The pair will meet for a second time following their semi-final clash at the 2025 Miami Open which was won by Pegula.

Pegula on Eala: “I mean, I think her serve has gotten a little bit better since when I last played her. I know it’s something she’s working on, of course.

“One, I think it helps that she’s a lefty. I think lefties are definitely – no offense to lefties, but they can get away with a little bit more, because we’re just not used to seeing the ball come that direction as often, and I think you see that with a lot of different lefties on tour.

“I mean, [Adrian] Mannarino, I feel like he just kind of like throws it in there. He can still hit his serve, but throws it in there. I’m not sure if a person that’s right-handed would be able to get away with it that much. So I do think they can use that to their advantage.

“I think with her, it stays so low. It’s hard to attack. I think if you put her – it would be interesting if she plays mixed doubles. I don’t think guys are going to like returning her serve. There’s no space to actually do anything with it. Sometimes you feel like you’re just starting the point.”

Eala on Pegula: “I think Jesse is a really good player. I mean, not I think. She is a really good player. I think she hits quite a flat ball, makes the opponent uncomfortable, or at least I felt uncomfortable last time.

“I think I did a good job in certain points last year of, like, holding my ground. Like I won the second set.

“But, yeah, I think there will definitely be a certain set of challenges. You know, she is where she is for a reason, so I’m going to try to face it head on and do what I can.”