Jessica Pegula handed former doubles partner Coco Gauff a blow in her bid to win back-to-back titles at the WTA Finals after winning their opening match.
Pegula, who is seeded two places lower than Gauff in fifth place, battled her way to a 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-2, victory after more than two hours in a clash that featured 14 breaks of serve. It was far from a perfect performance from both players, who at times struggled for consistency. Especially Gauff, who hit 58 unforced errors with 17 double faults. Pegula also produced more unforced errors than winners with a ratio of 32-18.
“Coco’s a great champion, great competitor and good friend. So it’s always tough playing her,” Pegula said afterwards.
“She was the last person I played (against) in China. We know each other’s games very well.
“I don’t think there’s any secrets with this group of girls here. So I tried my best today to just execute what I could.”
Three-set battles have become a common theme for Pegula, who has now gone the full distance in nine out of the past 11 matches played since the US Open. Against Gauff, she capitalized on the French Open champion’s mistakes early on to clinch the opening set. In the second frame, Pegula fought back from a break down twice with the help of mistakes from Gauff, who hit three consecutive double faults when leading 6-5(40-30), before getting edged out in the tiebreak. Despite the blip, she managed to regroup in the decider, winning five games in a row to claim victory.
“I played a lot of three-set matches with a lot of highs and lows, and I just tried not to think about really the time or the mistakes I’ve had or the chances I’ve had and just focus on my strategy,” she explained.
“I thought I was very disciplined there in the third set, staying positive.”
It is only the second time in 2025 that Pegula has managed to beat a top-five player. Her other victory was against Aryna Sabalenka at the Wuhan Open. Pegula is the first player to defeat the WTA Finals’ defending champion in the round-robin stages since 2018.
Both Pegua and Gauff can still progress beyond the round-robin stages depending on how they perform in their other two matches later this week, which will be against Sabalenka and Jasmine Paolini. In her opening match, Sabalenka brushed aside the Italian in straight sets.
