Pegula digs deep to edge Gauff in Riyadh thriller
In a tense WTA Finals opener under Riyadh’s lights, Jessica Pegula rediscovered her rhythm to outlast Coco Gauff in three sets, blending mental reset with tactical poise for a vital group-stage win.
Under the stark floodlights of Riyadh’s arena, Jessica Pegula transformed a nervy encounter into a gritty triumph, defeating Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-2 in the Stefanie Graf Group’s round-robin debut. The fifth seed, fresh from a restorative break in south Florida, absorbed the defending champion’s surges and capitalized on serving lapses to claim her 25th career win over a Top 10 opponent. This victory, the tournament’s first to stretch the distance after earlier straight-setters, highlighted the indoor hard courts’ demand for precision amid mounting pressure, with the crowd’s murmurs amplifying every break point.
Late bloomer finds peak form
At 31, Pegula arrives at her fourth straight WTA Finals riding a wave of maturity that her co-coach Mark Knowles describes as the pinnacle of her career. He praises her as an incredible competitor, honest in self-assessment and fearless against top challenges, her cerebral style turning nuanced adjustments into decisive edges on the fast surface. This late-career bloom spares her the early burnout others endure, allowing a mindset that feels years younger amid the tour’s grind.
Pegula herself leans into that perspective with wry confidence, viewing her surge as a fresh chapter unmarred by a decade of constant contention. The two weeks at home after eight straight three-set matches across Wuhan and Beijing in just 15 days provided the reset she needed, sharpening focus for this desert clash. Knowles reinforces the shift, noting how her savagery on court now aligns with the elite demands of year-end play.
“I was a little bit of a late-bloomer,” Pegula said. “I feel like the success I’ve had, it’s different when you’re having this much success at a young age, you’ve been doing it so much longer. By the time you hit 30, you’ve had 10 years of that. That is like five extra years that I haven’t had to do. So to me, I feel like I’m really not feeling like a 31-year-old on tour. Maybe I’m more like a 28-year-old. At least that’s what I tell myself.”
Returns dominate early exchanges
The match began as a returner’s duel, with the first 10 points and five games falling to the aggressor off the serve, the indoor hard’s skid testing first-strike tennis from the outset. Pegula, holding a 4-3 head-to-head edge despite Gauff’s recent 6-4, 7-5 win in the Wuhan final, waited 23 minutes to hold for a pivotal 4-2 lead, her crosscourt backhand sealing the third set point as frustration etched across her opponent’s face. Gauff, the 21-year-old youngest in the draw, faltered with five double faults and zero aces in the opener, capturing just 10 of 29 service points to hand over four breaks, her body language tightening under the title-defense weight.
Ahead of the event, Gauff had flagged the matchup’s familiarity, stressing the need for on-the-fly tweaks since both anticipated each other’s patterns from their latest encounter. Pegula’s inside-out forehands and deep returns disrupted that rhythm, forcing reactive defense on a surface where low bounces punish hesitation. The set’s tension rippled through the arena, setting a tone of psychological endurance over raw power.
Resilience turns the tide
Gauff regrouped in the second, breaking for 2-0 and extending to 3-1 after repelling two break points with stout defense and clutch serves, dialing back pace on her forehand to extend rallies much like in Wuhan. Serving at 5-4, however, two double faults gifted Pegula the leveler, though backhand winners down-the-line broke right back to forge another chance at the set. Three consecutive double faults on that service game forced a tiebreak, where a missed forehand at 4-all let the younger American snag the last three points, her overall 17 doubles underscoring the pressure as she conceded nine breaks total.
Pegula struck first in the decider, lunging for a down-the-line forehand pass to break for 3-2, her one–two returns probing weaknesses with varied depth and angles. The final break came swiftly, sealing the outcome as Gauff’s retrievals couldn’t stem the tide of errors in prolonged exchanges. This rebound not only evens their rivalry at 5-3 but propels Pegula toward Tuesday’s test against top seed Aryna Sabalenka, who dismantled Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 6-1 earlier and leads their ledger 8-3 across 11 meetings; on these courts, her tactical patience could challenge that dominance and fuel a deep group run.
