Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff, as they faced the couple made of Leylah Fernandez and Daria Saville, found themselves forced to attack an important umpire call in the deciding tie-break of the first doubles round of the US Open.
When the score was 7-5 for Fernandez-Saville in the last set’s championship tie-break and Gauff was getting ready to smash an easy ball from near the net, Daria Saville yelled ‘let’ because a piece of debris entered the field.
Gauff and Saville immediately headed to the umpire protesting.
“Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula accused the umpire of “stealing points” after he allowed the opposition to call ‘let’ during the middle of a point.
Gauff and Pegula went on to loss the third-set championship tie-break,” Eurosport described the event. “It’s not fair, you’re taking points away from us for the second time. You’re stealing points from us,” said Gauff.
Pegula, irritated about the decision, used a more aggressive vocabulary.
“[Saville] cannot call let. [Gauff] has a sitter right on top of the net. You did not call it until [Saville] stopped. She yelled in the middle of the point ‘let.’ You can’t even f***ing do that!” said Pegula.
Gauff and Pegula lost the match.
The final result was 6-2, 5-7, 6-7 (5-10) for the Fernandez-Saville pair, booking a meeting with Galfi/Pera, the pair who defeated the Zimmerman/Zanevska couple, in the next round. At the moment of their elimination from the doubles competition, both Gauff and Pegula were still alive in singles.
Gauff and Pegula won the title in Toronto
Cori Gauff says being the top-ranked doubles player is “pretty cool” and admitted that as a kid she didn’t even know there were separate rankings for singles and doubles.
At the National Bank Open in Toronto, Gauff and fellow American Jessica Pegula claimed the title. In the Toronto final, Gauff and Pegula defeated Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez 6-4 6-7 (5) 10-5. Gauff entered the final knowing that she would become the new top-ranked doubles player if she and Pegula won the title.
Gauff and Pegula were able to get the job done and the 18-year-old American is now the top-ranked doubles player in the world. “Being No. 1 is pretty cool. I have no words,” Gauff said, per the WTA website. “Honestly, as a kid, I didn’t even know there were separate rankings for singles and doubles.
