Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula were one of the top favorites in doubles at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but they lost very early in the competition.
The Americans had a really busy schedule in the French capital. While the younger of the two signed up to compete in all three events, singles, doubles, and mixed doubles, her more experienced compatriot signed up for singles and doubles competition.
They both lost surprisingly early in singles, when Gauff fell to an inspired Donna Vekic from Croatia, while Pegula was outplayed by Elina Svitolina from Ukraine.
Still, as the top seeds in doubles, they had a real shot at winning a medal for their country, and given that Gauff played in the Roland Garros singles final before, and she won the doubles competition at the French Open this year, they were certainly among the favorites, not just because of their seeding.
In the first round of the tournament, they outplayed Ellen Perez and Daria Saville from Australia, and in the second round, they took on Czech duo of Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova.
Early in the match, the Americans managed to follow up on their performance from the first round. They were great on their serve, and the same applied to their return games.
Therefore, it was not a surprise when after six games played, the top seeds led 5-1. Still, they lost one of the breaks, but that didn't matter in the end, as they broke their opponent's serve once more to win the first set of the match 6-2.
However, they couldn't use the momentum to their advantage in the second set, as after both teams traded breaks multiple times, it was the Czech duo that held first and led 5-2, with a chance to serve out the set.
But Gauff and Pegula were able to win eight consecutive points, recovering one of the breaks and holding their serve to love, putting great pressure on their opponents, who lost all of their momentum.
But the momentum of the American duo was cut short as well, but not by their opponents, but weather, as at 4-5 it started raining, and the Czech team got a chance to regroup and come out again to serve out the second set.
That's exactly what they did, winning the second set 6-4 to force the decider, which, at the Olympic Games, is a match tie-break to 10 points, something the Czech duo experienced in their first-round match, beating Ekaterina Alexandrova and Elena Vesnina 2-6, 7-6(5), 10-6.
This time, Muchova and Noskova played even better match tie-break, as they started with an early mini-break, they added another one shortly after, and for a good measure, the third one later after that to lead 9-4.
It wasn't the smoothest sailing, as on a match point they lost one of the mini-breaks, but they had four more match points, and used their second chance to win the match 6-2, 4-6, 10-5, and reach the quarter-finals of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
0 Comments