2024 WTA Finals Champion Falls in Battle of Americans
Coco Gauff, defending champion of the WTA Finals Riyadh, fell to countrywoman Jessica Pegula in the two’s first match of the tournament, which is still in the round robin group stages. Gauff, third-ranked and just fresh off a WTA 1000 title win in Wuhan, was unable to even out the head-to-head, which Pegula leads 4-3. Their last matchup was in the very same Wuhan Open that Gauff won. Gauff prevailed over the fifth-ranked player then in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5.
Overall Game Approach
Two-time Grand Slam Champion Gauff’s agility is always an issue for her opponents, and it seldom shows up in a match without her. It causes headaches for even the biggest hitters, like Pegula, as she manages to arrive at the ball endlessly, and her shot selection afterward always keeps her in the point a little longer, forcing the other into error, and with the knowledge that almost no matter what they hit, she will be there. Her active doubles career also adds the danger of her approaching and defending the net into the mix, and in the WTA game, where so many are one-dimensional baseliners, it works out amazingly for her. Pegula is a powerful player on all wings, but slower, so she chooses her movements more carefully; however, her error margin is high. However, with her long history of playing the younger American, and so recently, the approach she came into the match with was altered from her usual, and worked well in destabilizing her.
How It Played Out
Rather than the booming, angled shots that she so loves, Pegula came to rally today. She thought out more of her shots, slowing many of them completely. She traded power and speed for spin and height, playing deep and through the middle, only going for the extreme angles when Gauff was off the court, and as a sure finishing shot. Additionally, she toyed with the depth of her balls, playing some shorter and without some pace, which gave the 2025 French Open victor considerable grief. Gauff has the ability to generate power in her own right, but she has had issues with her groundstrokes for some time since her recent coaching change, at the cusp of the 2025 U.S. Open, which still plagues her today.
The pace changes Pegula inserted into the game brought Gauff a lot of frustration, and many misfirings, with a frightening number of 45 forehand unforced errors alone, and 13 on her backhand. A true testament to Peguala’s steadiness today, and unlike many matches of her past, she only had 10 forehand winners and eight on her backhand; her unforced errors were 17 and 15. Showing just how committed she was to her strategy. Service, which is where many can change the game, or at the very least, save themselves where groundstrokes fail them, was also not favorable for Gauff.
Pegula may have been playing patiently, but it doesn’t change the fact that she is absolutely ready to destroy any ball that requires it, and second serves are easy pickings. Gauff’s serves have never been a strong point, and her shaky groundstrokes may have weakened her confidence further, as she hit 17 double faults and only eight aces. It’s really no wonder that even with the fifth-ranked clinical game almost designed to dismantle her, Gauff’s service saw 18 chances to be broken, and that she got broken nine times. Pegula’s serve was exactly what it needed to be, not outstanding, but steady, like everything else, and gave her an in to set her strategies in motion without any hindrance. She hit five aces and was broken only three times out of the eight times she faced the threat.
Even with her staggering ability to defend and attack the net, it wasn’t enough. Gauff’s trouble with the rally rhythm her opponent set, and her own service troubles, made it a hard match to win. She is a runner, but runners have an easy time returning high-paced and powerful shots as they dash from end to end of the court, which Pegula figured out, and Gauff could not get over that hurdle. In two hours and 12 minutes, Pegula won the two’s first Steffi Graf group match in Riyadh, and it was well contested. It’s a fantastic start for the fifth-ranked American, whose best showing in the end-of-year tournament was appearing in the finals in 2023, where she fell to current second-ranked Iga Swiatek. Polish Swiatek is in the other group, called the Serena Williams Group, and plays her next match tomorrow against sixth-ranked Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan.
