CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Jessica Pegula can laugh about it now. Fresh off her title run at the Omnium Banque Nationale, the World No.3 returned stateside for this week's Western & Southern Open and has already heard the jokes.

"Everyone's calling me 'Cotton Eye Jess,'" Pegula told reporters on Media Day.  "Someone sent me a headline on CNN, and it's literally like, 'Jessica Pegula wins Montreal, overcomes Cotton Eye Joe Debacle.' I'm like, what?'"

Week in review: Pegula snaps her musical jinx

In case you missed it over the weekend, a musical mishap nearly derailed Pegula's title run in Montreal. Pegula was leading World No.1 Iga Swiatek by a set and 4-2 in the second-set tiebreak and had just hit a perfect defensive lob that earn what should have been an easy putaway forehand for a 5-2 lead. 

But as Swiatek was scrambling back to retrieve the lob, "Cotton Eye Joe" by Rednex suddenly began blasting from the stadium PA system. Chair Umpire Marija Cicak was forced to call a let and a replay of the point. Pegula could not believe her luck. She proceeded to lose the next five points to lose the tiebreak, and her slide continued in the third set, where she fell behind an early break. 

Thankfully for Pegula, she refocused from there and came back to edge Swiatek for her second win over the No.1 this season. A day later, Pegula was the Montreal champion.

Pegula sets the record straight with Montreal title

"For the rest of my life, I will be tied to that moment forever," Pegula said. "I'll never hear that song and not think about that. So I'm just glad that I overcame it, and it didn't bring me down.

"They play it a lot at hockey games and stuff, so I always remember doing [the dance] at hockey games. I guess that's maybe why it came on in Canada? I don't know. There are so many questions that have not been answered." 

The Montreal DJ made amends after the Pegula converted match point in the final against Liudmila Samsonova. As Pegula celebrated her first title of the season, second WTA 1000 title of her career and third title overall, the DJ played "Cotton Eye Joe." All Pegula could do was laugh. 

"Someone was telling me that you can pick out your walkout song at the US Open, and they're like, 'You gotta pick Cotton Eye Joe,'" she said. "I was like, 'No, I am not picking that song.' 

"During the Open, I'm always listening to 50 Cent. So it would be something like that level, not 'Cotton Eye Joe.' Maybe it's good luck. Maybe I need to keep it going. I don't know."