Jasmine Paolini clinched the winning point as Italy defeated the USA to retain the Billie Jean King Cup.
Paolini praised Pegula after winning their singles clash 6-4, 6-2, which followed Elisabetta Cocciaretto’s 6-4, 6-4 success over Emma Navarro.
The victories meant the doubles clash between McCartney Kessler and Hailey Baptiste, and Sara Errani and Paolini, was not needed.
Paolini had remarkably never won a set against Pegula in their five previous meetings on the WTA Tour, but ensured history was not repeated in Shenzhen.
The Italian was also on the winning side at the 2024 Billie Jean King Cup, where her nation defeated Slovakia in the final.
Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images for Billie Jean King CupOns Jabeur and Katie Boulter react as Jasmine Paolini helps Italy to Billie Jean King Cup glory
Their back-to-back successes have come via 2-0 victories, with Paolini quick to celebrate another triumph on social media afterwards.
She wrote on Instagram: “Italy, champions of the world,” with plenty of words of encouragement then going her way.
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Among those commenting were her WTA rivals Ons Jabeur and Katie Boulter, who wrote: “Forza Italia” and “Way too good” respectively.
Billie Jean King reacts after Italy beat the USA in the Billie Jean King Cup final
There were also words of congratulations from legendary figure Billie Jean King, who even joined in with the celebrations on court.
She posted on X: “Congratulations to the back-to-back World Champions of the Billie Jean King Cup, Team Italy!”
It really was a superb team display from Italy from start to finish, with their tournament beginning with a 2-0 victory over the hosts.
They followed their success over China with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Ukraine, before a final triumph over the most successful team in the history of the Billie Jean King Cup.
And the current champions are now behind only the USA, Czechia and Australia in the all-time wins list after claiming their sixth title.
Errani has remarkably won five of those, with the veteran joined on this year’s team by Paolini, Cocciaretto, Lucia Bronzetti and Tyra Grant.
And it was all achieved under the expert guidance of captain Tathiana Garbin, who outclassed her opposite number Lindsay Davenport to lift the trophy.
But Davenport has simply joined her predecessors in that regard, with Italy having just secured a sixth successive win over the USA at the competition.