Pegula Saves Match Point to Reach WTA Finals Semifinals

Jessica Pegula is into the WTA Finals semifinals, and Coco Gauff is out. Pegula saved a match point and beat Linda Noskova 7-6 (2), 4-6, 7-5 on Thursday in Indian Wells, in a match that ran two hours and 45 minutes and decided Group 1's second semifinal place.

Gauff had done her part earlier in the day. She beat Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 7-5, winning the last six games after trailing 5-1 in the second set. That win left her fate in Pegula's hands, and a Pegula victory in the night match eliminated her.

The group finished in a three-way tie. Noskova, Pegula and Gauff all went 2-1 in matches, so the standings turned on percentage of sets won. Noskova took first place with five sets won from seven played, Pegula took second with five from eight, and Gauff's four from seven left her third.

Noskova had already locked up her semifinal place before Thursday. She beat Kostyuk in her opening match and beat Gauff 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday, a win that put her through with a match to spare. She still pushed Pegula to a deciding set before the American closed it out.

Pegula's week turned in stages. She lost her opener to Gauff in three sets, then beat Kostyuk 6-2, 7-5 on Tuesday to stay alive and eliminate the alternate. The 32-year-old needed one more win on Thursday, against a player who had nothing to qualify for, and she needed every game of it.

The elimination stings for Gauff because she did the hardest part herself. She beat Pegula head to head in the group, won her last match from 5-1 down in a set, and still went home third, because Pegula's three-set win carried one more set than Gauff's wins did. The two are former doubles partners, and the arithmetic between them came down to a single set across three matches each.

Kostyuk finished 0-3 in her first WTA Finals. She entered the field as the first alternate after Elena Rybakina withdrew, and she didn't win a match in the group.

Pegula faces Mirra Andreeva in Saturday's semifinals, the first meeting of their careers. Noskova plays the winner of Friday's match between Aryna Sabalenka and Elina Svitolina, which decides the second semifinal place in Group 2.