Gauff and Noskova win WTA Finals openers as beaten rivals get another chance

Jessica Pegula saved a match point against Coco Gauff and still lost. But her tournament was not over: the WTA Finals’ opening stage gives defeated players something a knockout draw does not—another opponent to prepare for.

Gauff beat Pegula 6–4, 6–7(5), 6–2 at Indian Wells on Sunday, November 8, while Linda Noskova defeated Marta Kostyuk 6–2, 6–4. These were round-robin matches, meaning players face a series of opponents within a group rather than being eliminated after one defeat. The WTA confirmed that Kostyuk had two group matches remaining and named Kostyuk as Pegula’s next opponent. WTA: Gauff–Pegula, WTA: Noskova–Kostyuk

For Pegula, the challenge was to recover from a contest in which securing the second set demanded far more work than her early lead suggested.

Five games back, then a match point

Gauff took the opening set by winning the final game on Pegula’s serve. Pegula then built a 5–1 lead in the second, leaving her one game from forcing a deciding set. Instead, Gauff won five consecutive games to lead 6–5, according to the official WTA account.

That recovery contained two particularly narrow escapes. With Pegula serving at 5–4, Gauff saved three set points—three opportunities for Pegula to finish the set. In the next game, Gauff saved two break points, chances for Pegula to win a game on her serve. Gauff eventually held for 6–5 after a game lasting 10 minutes, Reuters reported.

Now Pegula had to escape. She saved a match point in the following game, reached the tiebreak and won it 7–5. She had finally secured the set that had been within reach at 5–1.

Pegula later attributed some of her third-set difficulty to the energy spent getting through the second. Gauff credited her ability to reset mentally after the missed match point. The deciding set began with Gauff winning the first three games; she went on to complete the victory in two hours, 39 minutes. WTA

One win each, different routes

Noskova needed one hour, 26 minutes to beat Kostyuk—73 minutes less than Gauff’s match, calculated from the WTA’s reported durations. She avoided a deciding set, breaking Kostyuk’s serve for a 4–2 lead in the second and holding her remaining service games to finish. WTA

The two matches produced these opening totals:

Totals calculated from these two November 8 matches, reported in the WTA accounts linked above; these are not current standings or qualification rankings.

Kostyuk’s preparation had been unusually short. She learned Saturday that she would play after Elena Rybakina withdrew with a viral illness. Noskova had a day to prepare for the changed opponent, though the pair had already met three times that season. WTA

The next pairings announced in the WTA’s November 8 account put Gauff against Noskova and Pegula against Kostyuk. The opening winners would face each other; the defeated players would each have an opportunity to earn their first win. WTA

Sources

• Reuters, syndicated by Devdiscourse: Gauff defeats Pegula; Noskova beats Kostyuk — separate reporting on both matches.
• WTA: Gauff–Pegula match report — official tournament coverage, including player comments and announced next pairings.
• WTA: Noskova–Kostyuk match report — official tournament coverage of the match, opponent change and remaining group matches.