Nao Hibino played high-risk tennis with remarkable precision in Sunday’s final of the inaugural $60,000 Tennis Championships of Honolulu. Jessica Pegula had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at such a rare time.
The top-seeded Hibino roared to a 6-0, 6-2 victory in just 55 minutes at the University of Hawaii courts. A crowd of about 100, and Pegula, could only look on in amazement.
“I don’t think she missed a ball today,” Pegula said, in awe. “Sometimes I’d hit a really good shot and look for something short coming back and she’d hit something deep on the line. It was one of those days.
“And she served really well. I didn’t expect so many aces.”
The USTA Pro Circuit event was the first leg in the U.S. Open Women’s Wild Card Challenge. The five-week series continues in California, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., with the highest-performing American earning a main-draw wild card into the U.S. Open.
Pegula, 24, is from Buffalo, where her parents own the Bills of the NFL and the Sabres of the NHL. At No. 346 in the world rankings, she was unseeded here, but smashed her way through four wins, including a pair of three-setters. One of those came against fifth-seeded Misaki Doi, who was once ranked as high as 30th.
That gives Pegula the Challenge lead as she tries to return to the U.S. Open, where she got her only Grand Slam match win in 2015.
Hibino, 23, is from Japan. She got $9,119 and 80 ranking points with the win. She came to Hawaii for the first time ranked 119th after appearances at the Australian and French opens this year. This victory should get her close to the Top 100 — where she finished the last three years — and direct entry into the U.S. Open.
But after her all but flawless final, Sunday she only wanted to savor her pursuit of tennis perfection and that great poke bowl she had for dinner Saturday.
“I enjoyed every moment in Hawaii,” said Hibino, who has won more than $1 million and one WTA title in her career. “This is my first tournament since my back injury about a month ago so I was nervous.
“I played really good today. Every day here I told myself if I just do my best I can win the tournament. I told myself that today.”
She was spectacularly good, matching Pegula’s big pace and losing just nine points in the 20-minute first set. Hibino hit lines on a relentless basis and was exceptionally quick, forcing Pegula to hit “winners” more than once in the same rally.
And, at just 5 foot 4, Hibino was a serving machine. She had three aces in the final game of the opening set, when Pegula got her only look at a game point. She would have four more in the second set, when Pegula tried everything, including smashing a racket and some off-speed slices.
Nothing worked, though Pegula acknowledged her confidence — and her ranking — grew this week as she reached the singles and doubles finals.
“If she plays like that every day I’m sure she’ll get back up into the Top 100,” she said of Hibino. “But there are a lot of ups and downs in this game. You just have to stay consistent and try to build off good results.”
Pegula got her good result, with Doi as her partner, in Sunday’s doubles final. The second-seeded team swept American teenage wild cards Taylor Johnson and Ashley Lahey, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.
In the second round, Pegula and Doi defeated Mililani’s Alyssa Tobita and her 17-year-old Australian partner Tallulah Farrow. Tobita, a three-time Hawaii state high school champion who just finished her career at Oregon, won her opening-round singles and doubles matches in her professional debut.
