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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Coco Gauff enjoyed
a successful start by beating Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-2 in an
American matchup at the WTA Finals on Sunday.
Second-seeded Iga Swiatek rallied to beat Barbora Krejcikova
4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in her first match in two months.
Gauff converted five of her eight break-point opportunities to
win her opening match at the year-ending tournament for the top
eight ranked players.
“I thought we both were playing high level,” Gauff said. “I just
think I was able to break through on the more important points.”
Gauff will face Swiatek on Tuesday with the winner taking
control of the Orange Group. Pegula will next face Wimbledon
champion Krejcikova.
Swiatek, who arrived at the WTA Finals with a new coach, hadn’t
played a match since losing to Pegula in straight sets in the
U.S. Open quarterfinals in September.
“Even though I played a lot of those (practice) matches, I kind
of forgot for a while how it is to feel all those things, a bit
different stress and emotions," Swiatek said. "For sure, I
needed some time to adapt. The most important thing was that
even though it happened, I managed to fight through that. And
was patient enough to wait to get better.”
Swiatek rallied from 3-0 down in the second set to turn it
around against Krejcikova, who has been hit by injuries and had
played only 29 matches coming into the finals. Seven of them
were victories at Wimbledon.
On Saturday, top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka eased to a straight-set
victory over Zheng Qinwen in the opening match of the finals in
Saudi Arabia. Fourth-seeded Jasmine Paolini of Italy beat
fifth-seeded Elena Rybakina in the other Purple Group match.
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