USA women’s tennis is in a good place.
That is especially obvious at the WTA Qatar TotalEnergies Open occurring this week.
Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff ranked fourth and sixth, are rolling through their singles matches.
Both are through to the quarterfinal round after beating Grand Slam champions in the round of 16.
Pegula saved two match points and won a three-set thriller over 2017 French Open Champion Jelena Ostapenko.
NO QUIT 😤
The No.2 seed @JLPegula pulls off a stunning comeback whipping out 5 straight games in the final set over Ostapenko!#QatarTennis pic.twitter.com/E5XyF2JnMX
— wta (@WTA) February 15, 2023
Gauff beat 2011 and 2014 Wimbledon Champion Petra Kvitova in straight sets.
Kicking off her campaign in Doha with a win 🙌
No.4 seed @CocoGauff takes out Kvitova, 6-3, 7-6(6)!#QatarTennis pic.twitter.com/i2IqYFPoru
— wta (@WTA) February 15, 2023
Pegula and Gauff are in opposite sections of the draw so the only way they would play against each other in this tournament would be in the final.
In the meantime, Pegula and Gauff are the top-ranked doubles team in the 2023 tournament and the 2022 doubles champions in Qatar.
They are into the semifinal round of doubles.
Double The Fun
Top-ranked singles players do not regularly play doubles.
There are more practices with the partner and more matches so some do not prefer to do it.
Others view it as a more fun way to hone their skills than with traditional practice.
Gauff has always been a singles and doubles player.
Earlier in her career, she played with fellow American teenager Caty McNally; their partnership was called “McCoco”.
The Gauff and Pegula team fell in the semifinal round of the 2023 Australian Open, but it is not an unrealistic prediction for them to win a Grand Slam title in 2023 as a doubles team.
DOUBLES QUARTERFINAL BOUND‼️
Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula advance in straight sets 💪 #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/FZ3rSbfhZB
— ESPN (@espn) January 23, 2023
Their best Grand Slam doubles result came in the 2022 French Open where they reached the finals and lost to Caroline Garcia and Kristina “Kiki” Mladenovic.
They Are A Great Team With Plenty In Common
Though they are 10 years apart, Gauff is 18 and Pegula is 28, the two have plenty in common which is why they are a successful doubles team.
An obvious similarity is that both come from families with sports backgrounds.
Pegula’s parents own professional sports teams including NFL’s Buffalo Bills and the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres.
Gauff’s parents were both collegiate athletes, her dad was a basketball player, and her mom a track star.
Growing up with sports as a backdrop, both got involved with sports their family members did not participate in.
Keep an eye on both Pegula and Gauff in both singles and doubles in 2023; this could be a breakthrough year twice over.
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