Gauff beats Pegula in three sets

Coco Gauff beat fellow American Jessica Pegula 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 on the opening day of the WTA Finals in Indian Wells. The match lasted two hours and 39 minutes. Gauff had also beaten Pegula in Cincinnati three months earlier.

Gauff won the first set. In the second set she recovered from 5-1 down and reached a point where she was one point away from winning the set. However, Pegula saved a match point at 5-6 and played well in the tie-break to take the set and extend the match. Pegula won five games in a row in that stretch and saved all three set points.

In the third set, Gauff broke her opponent's serve to go 3-0 up and took the match. Gauff said it was her first match in a month and that she had not played since the China Open. Before the match, Pegula had drawn attention after comments she made to her coach about Mirra Andreeva during pre-match practice were picked up by a live broadcast. The WTA apologized for the incident.