Gauff beats Pegula at WTA Finals while Swiatek prevails in her first match in two months

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — (AP) — Coco Gauff enjoyed a successful start by beating Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-2 in an American matchup at the WTA Finals on Sunday.

Second-seeded Iga Swiatek rallied to beat Barbora Krejcikova 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in her first match in two months.

Gauff converted five of her eight break-point opportunities to win her opening match at the year-ending tournament for the top eight ranked players.

“I thought we both were playing high level,” Gauff said. “I just think I was able to break through on the more important points.”

Gauff will face Swiatek on Tuesday with the winner taking control of the Orange Group. Pegula will next face Wimbledon champion Krejcikova.

Swiatek, who arrived at the WTA Finals with a new coach, hadn’t played a match since losing to Pegula in straight sets in the U.S. Open quarterfinals in September.

“Even though I played a lot of those (practice) matches, I kind of forgot for a while how it is to feel all those things, a bit different stress and emotions," Swiatek said. "For sure, I needed some time to adapt. The most important thing was that even though it happened, I managed to fight through that. And was patient enough to wait to get better.”

Swiatek rallied from 3-0 down in the second set to turn it around against Krejcikova, who has been hit by injuries and had played only 29 matches coming into the finals. Seven of them were victories at Wimbledon.

On Saturday, top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka eased to a straight-set victory over Zheng Qinwen in the opening match of the finals in Saudi Arabia. Fourth-seeded Jasmine Paolini of Italy beat fifth-seeded Elena Rybakina in the other Purple Group match.

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