Gauff & Pegula lift their first doubles trophy in 2023

| by Balasz Virag

Last year, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula lifted three WTA doubles titles and they started well also in 2023.

After the Australian Open, where they played semifinals, the American pairing signed up for the 2023 Qatar Open in Doha. In the first three rounds, they dominated in every match, reaching the final without losing a set.

First, they defeated Tereza Mihalikova and Yifan Xu, then they bested Alicja Rosolska and Erin Routliffe, before outplaying Giuliana Olmos and Shuai Zhang.

Gauff opens up about being inspired by Pegula - "I look up to her"
Gauff opens up about being inspired by Pegula - "I look up to her"

In the final, the first-seeded team took on no. 2 duo in Doha, Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok. They also showed their qualities before, but they weren't good enough to beat Gauff and Pegula in the final.

The American duo started strong. They broke their opponents two times to start the match and built a comfortable 3-0 lead. However, then followed a series of five games with breaks in each of them.

But the lead Gauff and Pegula built early on was enough for them to win the first set 6-4 and lead after the first set. In the second set, however, their final opponents showed their qualities.

Ostapenko and Kichenok broke their opponents three times, while being broken only once, resulting in a swift 6-2 win. Therefore, the final match had to be decided in a super tie-break.

Gauff and Pegula were broken first, but then they stepped up their game and despite losing a 6-4 lead, they won the last four points of the match to win it 6-4, 2-6, 10-7 in an hour and 21 minutes and win their first doubles title of the 2023 season.

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