Coco Gauff has shared her wish to face Jessica Pegula again this week after beating her friend and rival at the WTA Finals.
The former doubles partners faced off in their opening group stage match at the season-ending championships and Gauff breezed through to win 6-3 6-2 in 75 minutes.
Afterwards, the world No. 3 admitted it was tough to face Pegula even though they no longer played doubles together.
Gauff got her WTA Finals campaign off to a winning start on Sunday, topping her group with an easy straight-set victory. The 20-year-old fired down 16 winners to beat Pegula, a player she has often struggled against.
The world No. 3 came into the match with a 1-4 record against Pegula, with the 30-year-old demolishing her when they met in the semi-finals of the WTA Finals 12 months ago. But Gauff flipped the script and broke five times to secure the win.
Afterwards, the former US Open champion admitted it was difficult playing such a good friend and said she was rooting for Pegula to also make it out the group stage so they could meet again.
Asked what she was most proud of, Gauff told Sky Sports: “Just staying solid. It’s a lot of altitude. I’m not used to it at all.
“Just trying to stay solid and she’s obviously tough for me to play but I’m happy to get through today. I root for her so hopefully we’ll play again in the final.”
The 20-year-old has often struggled against Pegula and she shared what she had learned from their previous meetings. “Just kind of staying in it, every time, every point,” Gauff explained.
“She doesn’t give you nothing really. I feel like every point, I have to earn. So I think that’s just what I’ve learned the most.”
Gauff and Pegula have something in common – they both changed their coaches this season. Pegula parted ways with David Witt after the Australian Open and hired Mark Knowles while Gauff and Brad Gilbert split following the US Open. The world No. 3 has since hired Matt Daly.
Gauff has already started tinkering with elements of her game since teaming up with Daly, most notably trying to fix her serve after hitting 19 double faults during her US Open loss over the summer. It hasn’t always paid off but she had much better stats against Pegula, hitting two aces and two double faults.
Asked whether she preferred waiting until the off-season to make changes, the eight-time title winner replied: “Definitely implementing things as I go along and it’s up and down.
“I mean everybody has seen my match in China, it was tough serving wise and I was able to improve. I’m just trying to get through the rest of this season trying to serve well and today was a great day for me.”
Gauff will now face Iga Swiatek in her next group stage match on Tuesday while Pegula takes on Barbora Krejcikova.
