USA's top-ranked singles players Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff will become the WTA's co-ranked No. 1 players in doubles after the US Open.
In one of the tightest races for top spot that went down to the wire, it was Pegula and Gauff who pipped at least three names following the surprise early loss of Czech pair and top seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova whose US Open title defense came to a halt in the second round.
Siniakova had held onto the No. 1 ranking for an impressive 52 weeks, but she will swiftly be replaced by the American duo. Pegula and Gauff have played four finals together in doubles in 2023, all at the WTA 1000 level, winning in Doha and Miami and finishing runners-up in Madrid and Rome respectively.
Their doubles campaign at the 2023 US Open came to an end in the quarterfinal stage against Hsieh Su-wei and Wang Xinyu. But the same pair failed to reach the final, ending Hsieh's hopes of reclaiming the No. 1 ranking.
Pegula and Gauff will now be the first co-ranked pair to reach top spot in the doubles rankings since Krejcikova and Siniakova last achieved it back in 2019, and the first all-American team to do so in 11 years. They have beaten Elise Mertens to that distinction by just 60 points.
Gauff has previously ascended to the World No. 1 spot in doubles (August 2022), but for Pegula it will be the first time, becoming the 12th American woman to do so.
For both the two Americans, salvation may still come at this tournament despite coming up short in their quest to win a maiden Grand Slam doubles title as a pair. Pegula will play a mixed doubles final alongside new ATP doubles No. 1 Austin Krajicek on Saturday, while Gauff will contest her second Grand Slam singles final when she confronts Aryna Sabalenka on the same day.
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