Coco Gauff is not playing doubles with Jessica Pegula at the 2024 Italian Open, but it didn't matter, as she's through to the semi-finals in Rome.
Pegula is currently away from tennis due to injuries she suffered while getting ready for the clay swing. This is unfortunate for her because she's done fairly well on clay in the past, but that won't be happening this year.
In her absence, Gauff, who hasn't played much doubles this year compared to previous years, started playing with Erin Routfliffe of New Zealand, who has proved herself to be a very capable doubles player.
They teamed up this week at the WTA 1000 event in Rome and have been performing really well. Today's match against Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend was not easy because both Siniakova and Townsend are really strong doubles players who have also been showing a lot of good chemistry this week.
The opening set was 6-3 for the American/Kiwi combination, largely thanks to better play in crucial rallies. Siniakova and Townsend dropped fewer points on their serve and allowed fewer break chances, but they failed to save most of them.
On return, they created plenty of chances but didn't really convert them, as they only converted one out of four of their break points. That wasn't good enough.
In the second set, fans at Foro Italico saw a closer battle because the set ended up in a tiebreak. It was a crazy set where both teams were broken three times.
Gauff and her partner struggled greatly on their second serve, winning only 4 of 17 points. The tiebreak itself was less exciting because Gauff and Routliffe simply played better.
They were able to finish it off, winning the tie-break 7-3 to make it to the semi-finals of the tournament. It's been a really good run, and they could possibly go all the way.