CANCUN, Mexico (AP) — Buffalo’s Jessica Pegula outplayed U.S. Open winner Coco Gauff and beat her 6-2, 6-1 at the WTA Finals on Saturday in a matchup between American doubles partners on a rainy and windy evening to reach the title match at the season-ending championship for the first time.
Their semifinal was tied at 2-all when the fifth-seeded Pegula — a 29-year-old born in New York and now based in Florida who is a decade older than Gauff — reeled off six games in a row to claim the opening set and lead 2-0 in the second.
This was the first time two U.S. women played each other in the final four at this event since 2002, when Serena Williams defeated Jennifer Capriati. When Saturday’s semifinal ended after an hour, Pegula and the third-seeded Gauff met at the net for a hug.
“Coco is still the present and the future of U.S. tennis. I’m happy that I’m also at the top of the game and one of the leaders for all the Americans,” Pegula said. “So that’s always really nice. And that’s kind of just where I see myself.”
They were scheduled to play a doubles match together later Saturday, but that was wiped out by rain — and the second singles semifinal, between No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 2 Iga Swiatek, was suspended for the night. They were in just the fourth game when a storm arrived.
Action was halted with Swiatek leading 2-1 and Sabalenka serving at 30-all. Both wrapped themselves in white towels to brace against the chill. Organizers waited for nearly two hours before calling off all competition for the day.
Swiatek and Sabalenka were scheduled to resume their match Sunday; the singles final, originally slated for Sunday, was pushed back to Monday.
Sabalenka won the Australian Open in January and was the runner-up to Gauff at the U.S. Open in September. Swiatek won the French Open in June for her fourth major championship.
“They’ve won Grand Slam titles and big events before, so I’m assuming I’ll probably be the underdog again,”…
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