A comeback without an immediate finish
Coco Gauff beat Jessica Pegula 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2 in 2 hours and 39 minutes at the WTA Finals in Indian Wells on November 8 local time, opening Group 1 with a victory.
Gauff broke in the last game to take the first set but trailed 5-1 in the second. She recovered and held match point at 6-5, only for Pegula to save it, force a tiebreak and level the match.
Gauff had moved from almost losing the set to nearly winning the match, then found herself facing a decider. In the WTA’s report, she credited her ability to remain mentally engaged and reset without getting too high or too low.
An early break changes the third set
Gauff broke in the opening game of the decider and moved 3-0 ahead. Another break helped her close it out 6-2, taking her sixth win in eleven tour meetings with Pegula and her third consecutive victory over her this season.
Pegula linked her physical difficulty in the decider to the effort spent finishing the second set. What could have ended in one more game had required a much longer battle. She praised Gauff’s ability to make opponents compete for everything and to reset after missing an opportunity.
Their accounts explain why the second-set outcome did not dictate the third: Pegula survived match point and won the tiebreak at considerable cost, while Gauff immediately established a fresh break advantage.
More group matches ahead
This is Gauff’s fifth consecutive Finals appearance, making her the youngest to achieve that sequence since Martina Hingis in 1996-2000. The 2024 champion is 1-0 in the group, rather than already qualified for the next stage.
Gauff next faces fellow opening-match winner Linda Noskova. She leads their rivalry 2-1, although Noskova won their only meeting this year in Madrid. Pegula next plays Marta Kostyuk and stressed the need to begin preparing for a different opponent even after a defeat.
