Coco Gauff Starts WTA Finals with Tough Win Over Jessica Pegula
Coco Gauff secured a hard-fought victory against fellow American Jessica Pegula in her first match at the WTA Finals held in Indian Wells, California. The 2024 champion showed great determination and athleticism to win 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2.
At just 22, Gauff is the youngest player to compete in five consecutive WTA Finals since Martina Hingis did so in 2000. Her last tournament appearance was at the China Open earlier in October.
"I'm really proud of myself for this one," Gauff said after the match. "Playing a tournament like this with no preparation is something I've never done in my career, but I'm just really happy to get through. It was a tough match. I was having a lot of fun."
This year, Gauff's only title came from defeating Pegula in the Cincinnati Open final in August. Pegula, 32, captured titles in Dubai and Charleston and reached the semi-finals at both the Australian Open and US Open.
Pegula is close behind the tour leader Elena Rybakina with 50 wins this season, despite not playing since the US Open ended in September.
"Jess is an incredible player. We always go back and forth," Gauff commented. "Today the key was just trying to be aggressive, but I also had to run a lot. My shoes are pretty torn up now. Some of them are somewhere on the court there. So I'll have to change shoes tomorrow."
Next Matches
Gauff will face Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova, who opened the Finals with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Marta Kostyuk. Pegula is set to play against Kostyuk next.
The Czech 21-year-old Noskova converted all four of her break points in that match. Kostyuk entered the event late after world number one Rybakina withdrew due to illness.
Tournament Format
The WTA Finals include the top eight players of the season split into two groups of four. They compete in a round-robin format, with the top two in each group advancing to the semi-finals and then the final on Sunday.
Match Highlights
During the match against Pegula, Gauff saved three break points to hold serve at 5-4 in the first set before breaking Pegula’s serve in the next game to take the set. In the second set, Pegula surged ahead to 5-1, winning Gauff’s first three service games, but Gauff rallied to win three games in a row.
Pegula wasted three set points while serving at 5-4 and showed frustration by yelling and slamming her racquet after missing two break points in the following game. She managed to save a match point on her serve to force and eventually win the tie-break.
In the final set, Gauff dominated early by winning the first three games easily, then sealed the match on her third match point, letting out a powerful roar of emotion.
