Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula Lose: Updated Olympic Doubles Tennis ...

31 Jul 2024
Joseph Zucker@@JosephZuckerFeatured Columnist IVJuly 31, 2024

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Coco Gauff - Figure 1
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A day after exiting the women's singles tournament, Coco Gauff's quest for women's doubles gold came to an end at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Gauff and Jessica Pegula lost 6-2, 4-6, 5-10 to the Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova in the second round.

Muchova and Noskova will meet Chinese Taipei's Hsieh Su-wei and Tsao Chia-yi in the quarterfinals after Hsieh and Tsao advanced with a walkover.

Women's Doubles Results (Second Round)

Karolina Muchova/Linda Noskova (CZE) def. Coco Gauff/Jessica Pegula (USA): 2-6, 6-4, 10-5

Hsieh Su-wei/Tsao Chia-yi (TPE) def. Marta Kostyuk/Dayana Yastremska (UKR); Walkover

Mirra Andreeva/Diana Shnaider (AIN) def. Gabriela Dabrowski/Leylah Fernandez (CAN): 6-4, 6-0

Gauff and Pegula didn't have much trouble in the first set. They earned three service breaks and watched Muchova and Noskova combine for 16 unforced errors.

The momentum quickly swung in the Czechs' favor in the second set after Pegula dropped her serve in the third game. Muchova and Noskova got another break to take a commanding 5-2 lead in the set. The Americans started to claw back before Noskova's ace at 40-15 in the 10th game sealed the set.

From there, the match shifted to the super tiebreaker.

Gauff and Pegula found themselves in a 3-8 hole and couldn't dig themselves out. A forehand winner at the net from Noskova on match point put the Czech Republic through to the next round and three wins away from a medal.

"We were playing well," Gauff said of the defeat. "Both of them just played a better tiebreaker."

The 20-year-old still has one more shot to leave Paris with her first Olympic medal. She and Taylor Fritz play Gabriela Dabrowski and Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles tournament.

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