Gauff, Pegula successfully defend Doha doubles title


 Gauff, Pegula successfully defend Doha doubles title

Top seeds Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula edged No.2 seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko to win their first title of the season at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open.

Top seeds Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula captured their first title of the season and fourth team title by defeating Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 2-6, 10-7 to win the Qatar TotalEnergies Open. 

Gauff and Pegula captured their first title together 12 months ago in Doha and have emerged as one of the premier doubles teams on the Hologic WTA Tour. Last season, the American duo won two WTA 1000 titles (Doha, Toronto) and made their first major final at Roland Garros. The two also became the first duo to qualify for the WTA Finals in both singles and doubles since Serena and Venus Williams in 2009. 

Playing their second tournament of the season, Gauff and Pegula rolled into the final without losing a set. Facing down No.4 seeds Zhang Shuai and Giuliana Olmos in the semifinals, the top seeds lost just four games. 

Kichenok and Ostapenko broke early to lead 2-0. After the Americans pegged them back to 2-2, the No.2 seeds did not drop a game. With Gauff and Pegula beginning to misfire, Kichenok and Ostapenko stayed steady to force a match tie-break after 67 minutes.

The margins were slim in the match tie-break, with neither team able to build anything more than a two-point cushion. But at 7-7, the reigning champions surged. Gauff put away a tentative return from Kichenok to build an 8-7 lead and then got the better of Ostapenko from the baseline to earn two championship points.

Gauff and Pegula would need just one, as Pegula put in a strong cross-court forehand return to put Ostapenko on defense and closed out the match on a forehand miss from the Latvian. With their successful title defense, Gauff and Pegula are now 9-0 as a team at the Khalifa International Stadium.

Pegula will turn around to contest the singles final on Saturday. The No.2 seed will face No.1 Iga Swiatek for the second time this season, having beaten the Pole at United Cup in January. The 29-year-old American is bidding to become the first player to sweep singles and doubles titles at a WTA 500 event since Ashleigh Barty at 2022 Adelaide.

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