WTA Finals: Coco Gauff’s serve collapses again as Pegula takes all-American showdown

Jessica Pegula won the all-American duel against Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-2 in her WTA Finals debut. The 31-year-old star defeated the defending champion in a tight three-set match, where Gauff's service errors were once again a problem—totaling 17 double faults.

The World No. 5 showed consistency in a match that was a rollercoaster full of breaks, with 9 breaks for Pegula and 5 for Gauff. The 2024 US Open runner-up thus begins her fourth WTA Finals appearance with a victory and positions herself in second place in the group, trailing Aryna Sabalenka.

The first set was marked by irregularities in the serve of both players, as neither managed to hold serve early on. Everything started with cross breaks (both to love), resulting in a total of 5 consecutive breaks: 3 for Pegula and two in favor of Gauff, who once again showed problems with double faults—totaling 5 in the set.

In fact, both players were more effective on the return: Gauff won only 34% of points on her serve, while Pegula only won 50%. Nonetheless, Pegula was the first to successfully defend her service game—around the 6th game—and things stabilized partially. Pegula managed to stay ahead on the scoreboard, and at 5-3 in her favor, she secured her 4th break of the set, taking the lead 6-3.

At the start of the second set, Gauff managed to pull ahead with an opening break, holding serve to lead 2-0. The match tightened in terms of both players' serving capacity. Gauff maintained the lead, but Pegula kept pace with the 2-time Grand Slam champion.

The score reached 5-3 with the advantage for Gauff, but then came the reaction from Pegula, who saved a delicate moment on her serve and then took advantage of the tension—including a double fault from her rival—to secure a break that brought her back into the match. The score reached 5-5 and there were again cross breaks, in which Gauff wasted a set point, and everything went to a tie-break, where the 21-year-old ultimately prevailed over her former doubles partner.

Tension ran high at the start of the third set, again featuring cross breaks and opportunities for both players. Gauff continued to show clear deficiencies with her first serve, committing several more double faults, and started to find it increasingly difficult to keep up with her rival's pace.

It was this irregularity that allowed Pegula to take command of the match in the final stages. Surpassing two hours of play, she secured two consecutive breaks—and a total of 5 games in a row—before closing out the victory 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-2. During the third set alone, Gauff committed another 5 double faults, totaling 17 throughout the match. The inconsistency on serve resulted in Gauff winning only 48% of her service points, compared to 56% for Pegula.

With this result, the first round of the Steffi Graf Group concludes with Aryna Sabalenka as the clear leader—after securing a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Jasmine Paolini—giving her a good game differential advantage after her first match. Pegula is in second place after her first victory.

The two group leaders will face each other on Tuesday, November 4th, seeking the group leadership, while Coco Gauff and Jasmine Paolini will seek to stay alive in the Round Robin, as one of them could be practically eliminated if they suffer a defeat for the second consecutive match.