Gauff battles back to defeat fourth seed Pegula 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
Seventh seed Coco Gauff overcame a challenging start to defeat fellow American Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday, advancing to the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time in her career.
After a difficult opening set marked by four double-faults and 17 unforced errors, Gauff elevated her performance, reducing her double-faults to three and unforced errors to 15 across the final two sets. This improvement in her groundstrokes was pivotal in her comeback against the in-form fourth seed.
This victory added to Gauff's impressive run at Wimbledon, having been pushed to three sets in each of her previous three matches. With this win, she became the highest seed remaining in the women’s singles draw and is set to face Karolina Muchova for a place in the final.
Wimbledon holds special significance for Gauff, who first captured global attention here in 2019 at age 15 by defeating Venus Williams. Seven years later, after enduring several seasons of frustration on grass courts, she has finally reached her first semi-final at SW19, having not won a match on grass in the two years prior to this tournament.
“I spoke about this at the start of the tournament, that seeing [Iga Swiatek] win [last year] gave me more belief,” Gauff said. “Because we do have similar game styles, especially on the forehand wing.
“In the past there’s commentary on my game, how it doesn’t mesh with this surface,” said Gauff. “This is the first year I’ve had a real training block on grass. I was able to get a weekend before Berlin, really able to focus on footwork, how I wanted to play, take time to break it down.
“Even though I lost early in Berlin, I still had the whole week here to spend a lot of time on the court and on footwork and specifics, which is completely different to clay.”
Jessica Pegula entered the match having reached at least the quarter-finals in all but two tournaments this season and was enjoying the best grass-court campaign of her career. The fourth seed had dropped only one set en route to the quarter-finals and held a 5-3 advantage in their head-to-head meetings, including a win at the WTA Finals last year.
On Centre Court, Gauff’s early struggles were evident as two double-faults immediately gifted Pegula a break. Pegula settled into her rhythm with clean ball striking, while Gauff struggled with consistency, spraying forehands long and accumulating errors. Pegula remained composed, absorbing pressure and punishing short balls with flat, penetrating groundstrokes.
Although Gauff briefly leveled the set by breaking back at 3-3, another double-fault handed Pegula the initiative again, and she served out the opener confidently as Gauff’s unforced errors mounted.
Facing two break points in the opening game of the second set, Gauff escaped through remarkable athleticism, chasing down difficult shots and finishing with a stunning backhand winner down the line. Her serve began to stabilize, and she started dictating play with heavy topspin that had been absent in the first set.
Pegula continued to create opportunities, holding serve at 1-1 despite sustained pressure. Gauff often found herself under scoreboard pressure, but at 5-3, a powerful forehand return earned her three break points. Pegula’s first double fault of the match came at a critical moment, handing Gauff the break. Moments later, Gauff served out the set with an ace down the middle, celebrating as the Centre Court crowd erupted.
Pegula threatened early in the deciding set, creating break-point chances in the opening games, but Gauff held firm and struck first. An exquisite lob volley set up two break points, and when Pegula’s forehand went wide, Gauff took the lead for the first time in the match. The 22-year-old finished with seven aces and adopted a more aggressive style, stepping inside the baseline to control rallies rather than react.
Her forehand, which had been criticized during the first week, grew heavier, and her improved racket-head speed allowed her to dictate exchanges effectively.
Serving for the match at 5-3, Gauff displayed confidence absent in the opening set and closed out the match, securing her fourth consecutive three-set victory at this year’s Championships.
“In the first set I was rushing out of some points too early,” Gauff reflected. “Either trying to either get out of the rally or overhit too much. Towards the end, I just really homed in on my game and realised I don’t have to play a spectacular point every time to win, even though there were some spectacular points.”
Reflecting on the match, Pegula acknowledged Gauff’s impact.
“Kudos to her,” Pegula said. “She made me feel uncomfortable. I started off returning really well and put a lot of pressure on her serve right from the beginning. Then it just kind of flipped.”
