Best friends off the court and also on the doubles court but now a tie between the two top Americans has seen Jessica Pegula prevail over Coco Gauff to reach the semi-finals of the 2023 Canadian Open in Montreal.
A 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 win for Pegula who reaches a third straight semi-final in Montreal in a thrilling contest which saw Gauff lead 5-4 in the final set at one point and was two points away from winning.
But the top American and World No.3 found a way to move through and is into another big semi-final. Albeit she will also return to the court later today alongside Gauff in the doubles.
Gauff looked poor to start off with compared to her recent form with Pegula easing into a 4-0 lead in the opening set.
This impressive start from Pegula continued as she sealed the opener 6-2, with Gauff showing some signs that she was growing back into the tie.
This was the case, but she let frustration get the better of her in the latter half of the set slamming her racquet after giving a break back at 5-4. Pegula held after having break point against her at 5-5. But Gauff held her serve at 6-5.
It was all on Pegula to take it to a tiebreak, but she couldn't and Gauff broke at the final opportunity to send it all the way.
The final set was a story of Pegula holding onto a break going 2-1 up and continued to lead 3-2 and 4-3 with Gauff running quickly out of time. But Gauff found one just in time to make it 4-4.
While she found it just in time to prolong the tie, Pegula found it to win the tie going 6-5 up and this broke the spirit of Gauff with the former holding to love to seal the win.
She breaks a six match winning streak for Gauff in the process and also revenge of sorts for losing in Eastbourne earlier this summer.
3/3 - Jessica Pegula is the 6th player in the Open Era to make it to the SFs in each of her first three appearances at the Canadian Open after Evonne Goolagong, Chris Evert, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles. En plein. #OBN23 | @OBNmontreal @WTA_insider @WTA
