RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — According to co-coach Mark Knowles, Jessica Pegula is playing the best tennis of her career — at the age of 31. This is her fourth consecutive year-end Top 10 and her fourth berth in the WTA Finals.
“I was a little bit of a late-bloomer,” Pegula said. “I feel like the success I’ve had, it’s different when you’re having this much success at a young age, you’ve been doing it so much longer. By the time you hit 30, you’ve had 10 years of that. That is like five extra years that I haven’t had to do.
“So to me, I feel like I’m really not feeling like a 31-year-old on tour. Maybe I’m more like a 28-year-old. At least that’s what I tell myself.”
It seems to be working.
The No. 5-seeded Pegula defeated No. 3 Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2 on Sunday night in opening round-robin action from the Stefanie Graf Group. Gauff, at 21, the youngest singles player in the field, has some work to do if she wants to defend her WTA Finals title here.
After three straight-sets blowouts, this was the first round-robin singles match to go the distance.
“It was a very up-and-down match,” Pegula said. “Luckily, I was able to get through. I just had to pick up on a few things to turn the match around. I had to compete and fight — and I thought I did that well.”
Gauff suffered 17 double faults and was broken nine times.
Pegula next faces No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka in a second round-robin match on Tuesday. Sabalenka was a 6-3, 6-1 winner over No. 7 Jasmine Paolini earlier Sunday. Sabalenka has won eight of her 11 matches against the American.
A full decade older than Gauff, Pegula came in with a tenuous 4-3 advantage in head-to-head matches. They’d met only once previously in 2025, with Gauff winning in the Wuhan final 6-4, 7-5. But there was an asterisk: Pegula was coming off eight straight three-set matches in Wuhan and Beijing in a span of 15 days.
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After nearly two weeks at home in south Florida, Pegula said a “little reset, a little refresh” left her ready to go in Riyadh.
“It’s always tricky playing her, but especially since we played so recently,” Gauff told reporters ahead of the tournament. “I think that she’s going to know what to expect, and vice versa.
“The things that I necessarily probably did really well in that match that got me that win may not work in this match because you probably could recognize those things, as well, capitalize off it. It’s one of those matches that you have your game plan, but you have to be able to adjust because she might know my game plan already.”
It sure looked that way for both sides as the match opened. The first 10 points and the first five games went to the returner. Some 23 minutes in, Pegula finally held to take a decisive 4-2 and eventually converted her third set point.
It was a squirrely first set for Gauff, who grew increasingly frustrated. She finished the frame with five double faults (and zero aces) and won only 10 of 29 points on her serve, leading to four breaks.
In the second set, Gauff came back to break Pegula and take a 2-0 lead. That grew to 3-1, when Gauff saved two break points with a potent combination of defense and clutch serves. Just as she did in the Wuhan final, Gauff started taking something off her serve and forehand and let defense carry her.
But serving for the set at 5-4, Gauff struck two double faults, the last giving Pegula a back-to-even break. Lashing two backhand winners, Gauff broke right back and served again for the set. Gauff actually forged a set point, but three consecutive double faults sent it to a tiebreak.
At 4-all, Pegula missed a makeable forehand and Gauff closed by winning the last three points.
Pegula took a 3-2 lead in the third with a lunging forehand pass, breaking Gauff for the eighth time. One final break spelled the end for Gauff.
“Obviously, little frustrated with the serve today,” Gauff said afterward. “Overall, it was a tough match for me. Jess played well and I thought she was playing a bit smarter than she was when we played in Wuhan.”
This was Pegula’s 25th Top 10 win, previously after notching No. 24 against Sabalenka last month in the Wuhan semifinals, ending her perfect 20-0 record in in that Chinese city
Pegula’s game is cerebral and nuanced; there is a tendency to believe she doesn’t have any dangerous weapons. That is not correct — her mind is her greatest asset.
“I’ve been around a lot of great champions, a lot of great players,” Knowles said. “She’s a bit of a savage, I mean she’s an incredible competitor. She’s very honest with herself. She’s not afraid to back down from any challenge. Pretty amazing.
“This is the best version of Jessica Pegula, right now.”