Jessica Pegula pulled off a notable feat by triumphing in her opening WTA Finals match as the American is only the second player in 2025 to have managed to beat Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff.
When Pegula drew Gauff in her Riyadh opener, it was all but an easy matchup to start her campaign at the season-ending tournament. But the 31-year-old delivered in an all-American battle, overcoming the world No. 3 6-3 6-7 (4) 6-2.
Now, Pegula has had wins over each of the three top-ranked players in the game over the past five months – the American defeated Swiatek 6-4 7-5 in the Bad Homburg final and recently also upset Sabalenka in Wuhan 2-6 6-4 7-6 (2).
Besides the 31-year-old, only one player has managed to seal a win over Sabalenka, Swiatek and Gauff this season – it is Amanda Anisimova.
3/3 – Jessica Pegula is the second player in 2025 to win against all the current top-3 of the WTA Rankings (Iga Swiatek in Bad Homburg, Aryna Sabalenka in Wuhan and Coco Gauff at the WTA Finals) after Amanda Anisimova. Collection.#WTAFinalsRiyadh | @WTA @WTAFinalsRiyadh pic.twitter.com/atpVrTLQ2S
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) November 2, 2025
How Pegula reacted to beating Gauff?
A bit interestingly, Pegula and Gauff met twice this year and it came in back-to-back tournaments. Two weeks ago, the younger American beat the elder American 6-4 7-5 in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament on Wuhan. But on Sunday, the world No. 5 got her revenge.
"Coco's a great champion, great competitor, good friend, so it's always tough playing her. It's always tough playing her. She was the last person I actually played in China, so we know each others' games pretty well. I don't think there's any secrets with this group of girls, so I just tried my best today to execute where I could," the world No. 5 said after beating Gauff.
Pegula will have a chance to clinch her second win of the year against Sabalenka when she takes on the world No. 1 on Tuesday at the WTA Finals.
