Gauff overcomes Pegula in three sets to open WTA Finals with a win

Coco Gauff began her WTA Finals campaign with a 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2 victory over Jessica Pegula at Indian Wells in California, BBC Sport reported. The 2024 champion recovered from losing a second-set tie-break to defeat her fellow American, while Linda Noskova also opened with a victory in the event featuring the season's top eight players.

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Gauff had to escape pressure late in the opening set. Facing three break points, she held serve to move 5-4 ahead, then broke Pegula in the next game to secure the set. Pegula reversed the momentum in the second, breaking Gauff in each of her first three service games and establishing a 5-1 advantage before Gauff began to recover.

The comeback brought Gauff three successive games, and Pegula could not convert three set points when serving at 5-4. Pegula then missed two break opportunities in the following game. She nevertheless saved a match point on her own serve, took the set into a tie-break and won it 7-5 to force a decider after Gauff had come within one point of a straight-sets victory.

Gauff responded by winning the first three games of the final set and eventually completed the match on her third match point. According to BBC Sport, she said she was proud of getting through after entering the tournament without preparation and described aggression as central to her approach against Pegula. Her previous tournament appearance had been at the China Open in early October.

The result gave Gauff another victory over the opponent she beat in August's Cincinnati Open final, her only title of the year. Pegula, the 2023 WTA Finals runner-up, arrived with titles in Dubai and Charleston and semi-final appearances at both the Australian Open and US Open. She had played only one match since the US Open ended in September.

Gauff next faces Wimbledon champion Noskova, who defeated Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-4 in the Finals' opening match. The 21-year-old Czech converted all four of her break-point chances. Kostyuk had received a late place in the field after world number one Elena Rybakina withdrew on Saturday because of illness, BBC Sport reported.