Gauff & Pegula's World No. 1 Dream Dashed After Surprising Wimbledon Defeat

| by Zachary Wimer

Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff lost already in the third round of the 2023 Wimbledon doubles tournament to Vera Zvonareva and Laura Siegemund.

The highest-ranked American duo on the WTA Tour had a unique chance to take over the World No. 1 spot after the current No. 1 team, Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, withdrew from the event due to Krejcikova's injury.

It would be Pegula, who leads her younger colleague by 90 points, who would become the new World No. 1 if the pairing lifted the trophy. However, despite a successful start to their World No. 1 story, it ended earlier than expected.

In the first two rounds, the Americans had to fight in three sets, and taking on Vera Zvonareva and Laura Siegemund, the two had reasons to be worried as a very experienced duo is capable of causing upsets.

Earlier in the day, Pegula lost in singles to Marketa Vondrousova, and she certainly wanted to forget that loss in doubles. The American duo started well, having two break points in the fourth game of the opening set.

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However, those break points remained unused, but that wasn't the case for the break point that their opponents had in the next game. Zvonareva and Siegemund broke their opponent's serve, and even though Gauff and Pegula fought in the ninth game of the first set, they were broken once again, losing the opening set 3-6.

Things went from bad to worse for the second seeds in the second set when they weren't able to capitalize on a one-break lead twice. After that, their opponent went into the lead again, and the American duo was visibly frustrated.

Gauff and Pegula weren't able to overcome the deficit in the remainder of the second set and after an hour and 31 minutes, they lost the match 3-6, 3-6, ending their 2023 Wimbledon Championships experience and the World No. 1 dream, at least for now.

While Siegemund and Zvonareva will now focus on their quarterfinal match against Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo, the American duo will surely switch focus to US swing. Playing enough doubles matches is important for them as Pegula and Gauff want to do well at the 2024 Olympics.

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