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Gauff will move up from sixth to displace Elise Mertens from the
top of rankings, on the back of the victory, over Nicole
Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez in the final of the U.S. Open
warm-up tournament.
The 18-year-old is the second youngest player to top the women's
doubles rankings after Martina Hingis, aged 17 when she achieved
the feat in 1998.
Gauff said becoming world number one in doubles was "pretty
cool" even if she could not claim it was a childhood dream.
"As a kid, I'm going to be honest with you, I didn't even know
there was separate rankings for singles and doubles," she told
reporters in Toronto.
"But when I got on tour and when I realised I could do well in
doubles ... I wanted to. I mean, who wouldn't want to be number
one in anything?"
Gauff and Pegula, who reached the final at the French Open this
year, confirmed that they would pair up for the rest of the
season where their schedules allowed.
That includes later this month at the U.S. Open, where they will
be looking to become the first all-American team to win the
women's doubles title at Flushing Meadows since Liezel Huber and
Lisa Raymond in 2011.
"That would be pretty cool. We were close at French Open," said
Gauff, who lost in the U.S. Open final with Caty McNally last
year.
"But I don't want to put any pressure on ourselves. I think we
play the best when we just take it one match at a time and one
point at a time."
A quarter-final loss at the hands of eventual champion Simona
Halep in Toronto means Gauff will drop down the singles rankings
from her career-high position of 11th later on Monday.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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