Jessica Pegula dropped her head to the table in front of the microphone, smiling while hoping there might be a consolation victory awaiting the American in her WTA Finals debut.
Aryna Sabalenka beat Pegula 6-3, 7-5 on Friday and advanced to the semi-finals of the WTA Finals.
Pegula also tried to remember the strong season that got her to Texas with a No. 3 ranking, and made her and Gauff the first Americans to debut at the WTA Finals in singles and doubles since Lindsay Davenport in 1994.
“I keep telling myself I had such a great year, but that’s the tough thing with tennis is you end the year really well and then I come here and I lose all my matches,” the 28-year-old said. “I mean, I don’t think I’ve lost this many matches in a short amount of time, this is like the same amount in like three months or something, almost?”
No. 7 Sabalenka finished 2-1 in group play and had to wait for the outcome of the late match between No. 2 Ons Jabeur and fifth-ranked Maria Sakkari to see if she advanced. Sakkari has already clinched a spot in the semis.
Sabalenka, who didn’t qualify for the semifinals in her WTA Finals debut last year in Guadalajara, knew a straight-sets victory improved her chances of advancing.
The 24-year-old got it — and a fourth consecutive straight-sets win over Pegula — despite double-faulting three times serving for the match at 5-3. She did the same thing earlier in the second set.
Pegula had a chance to force a tiebreaker on her serve, but Sabalenka finished her off with a backhand crosscourt winner on her second match point.
“I kept telling myself just stay focused, just keep fighting,” Sabalenka said. “It doesn’t matter, two or three sets. Just keep fighting. Just get the win, get extra points and then move on.”
The hard-hitting Sabalenka never trailed in overpowering Pegula from the start, finishing with a 26-13 edge in winners and five aces.
Even with her attacking style, Sabalenka had fewer unforced errors, finishing with 23 to 26 for Pegula, who mumbled to herself after many of hers.
“I feel like this week was a little bit of a grind,” Pegula said. “It definitely feels like I hit a wall a little bit today, just as far as physically, mentally.”
Pegula qualified for the WTA Finals on the indoor hard-court at Dickies Arena by reaching the semifinals in San Diego. Then a week before showing up, she got her first title of the season — and second of her career — by beating Sakkari in Guadalajara.
While saying she underestimated the difficulty of playing singles and doubles this week, Pegula didn’t regret it. She and Gauff were eliminated after their second loss Thursday.
“We’re used to playing both,” Pegula said. “But obviously this week, I think maybe the end of the year, it just kind of caught up, I don’t know about her, but it caught up to me a little bit.”
American Desirae Krawczyk and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands advanced to the semifinals in doubles with a 7-6(2), 6-3 victory over China’s Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan.
The Czech duo of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova is already in the semifinals, facing Pegula and Gauff later Friday.
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