Midway through Jessica Pegula’s Master Class final performance at the Omnium Banque Nationale tournament in Montreal, Tennis Channel analysts had a message for those watching.

While Pegula won 11 straight games against Liudmila Samsonova and finished Sunday with an emphatic 6-1, 6-0 victory -- in 49 minutes -- Mark Petchey and Andrea Petkovic pontificated.

Petchey: “There’s a narrative surrounding Pegula that’s misleading.”

No.3 Pegula wins Montreal to capture second WTA 1000 title

Petkovic: “That people believe Pegula has no weapons is a mind-boggling thing. She has such hard, flat shots it can take the racquet out of your hands.”

Later, after a smooth, exceptionally low forehand crosscourt winner that sent Pegula on her way to a 4-1 lead in the first set, Petchey revisited that take.

“Again, that’s what we’re talking about,” he said. “The deception in Pegula’s game makes it difficult to recognize.”

As the second set progressed, Petkovic added, “This is the time to start talking about the Big Four. Please stop saying Jess Pegula doesn’t have any weapons. If you were on the other side of those shots, you wouldn’t be saying that.”

There are nine scheduled Hologic WTA 1000 events in 2023, and it’s safe to say that none of them will end as decisively as this one did. Pegula, the No.4 seed, broke No.15 Samsonova’s serve five times and did not face a break point, winning all 19 of her first-serve points.

Excluding retirements, this was only the third WTA 1000 final since the introduction of the format in 2009 that the winner dropped one or fewer games -- the others: Garbiñe Muguruza over Simona Halep in Cincinnati 2017 and Iga Swiatek over Karolina Pliskova in Rome 2021.

To be fair, the 24-year-old Samsonova was playing her second match of the day after her Saturday semifinal against Elena Rybakina was postponed due to rain.

“Obviously, physically she wasn’t feeling her best,” Pegula told reporters later, “but at the same time I played a really clean match. I don’t really think I made any unforced errors or anything. I played kind of a perfect match.

“I could just play freely, and I kept trying to get the break and just hold for as long as I could until I won the match. So, yeah, it was a good day.”

This was Pegula’s second WTA 1000 title, going back to Guadalajara in late 2022. In that breakthrough event, Pegula needed to beat only one player ranked in the Top 20, No.6 Maria Sakkari, in the final. This was a victory of higher quality, one that should give the 29-year-old American a surge of confidence going forward -- beginning with the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati that is already underway.

Pegula defeated No.7 and doubles partner Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals and No.1 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals. Samsonova is ranked No.12 and inching close to her first Top 10 ranking. Pegula is ranked No.3, ahead of Elena Rybakina.

“Beating Coco and beating Iga were two really tough wins back-to-back, and being able to do that and then just come out today and play a really clean match was kind of great,” Pegula said. “Even when you’re winning a lot of matches, you’re still not winning tournaments, so it can get tough. Winning a week like this week makes it all worth it and makes you want to keep going for more.”

Pegula is the first American player to win the title at the Canadian Open since Serena Williams in 2013.

Looking for more credibility? Pegula and Swiatek have the most hard-court wins in WTA 1000 events over the past two years, with 29 victories each.

The victory may give Pegula the confidence to improve her Grand Slam singles profile. The daughter of billionaires Terry and Kim Pegula, who own the Buffalo Bills NFL franchise as well as the NHL’s Sabres, Pegula has reached six of the past 11 major quarterfinals -- and five of the past seven.

She’s 0-6 in those matches, but let the record show she lost to the eventual winner four times, one finalist and, in Melbourne 2023, two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka. Cincinnati and the US Open, however, are closer to her hometown of Buffalo.

“I like feeling like I’m up in the Northeast kind of area,” Pegula said. “Maybe because that’s where I’m comfortable. Here I feel like I’m home.”