Gauff Eliminated From WTA Finals Despite Kostyuk Win as Pegula Stuns Noskova

Coco Gauff's hopes of reaching the WTA Finals semi-finals were ended in Indian Wells on Thursday, even though she won her final round-robin match against Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 7-5.

The world number four's exit was confirmed when Jessica Pegula beat Linda Noskova 7-6 (7/2), 4-6, 7-5 in the group's deciding match, taking the second qualification spot alongside the Czech.

Gauff's path to the last four had already been complicated earlier in the week when Noskova beat her 6-3, 6-3 in their round-robin meeting, a result that effectively put Gauff at the mercy of other results.

Noskova had gone on to clinch her own semi-final place with a perfect record of victories in her first two round-robin matches, making her the first player through to the last four of the season-ending event.

Pegula's win over Noskova was anything but straightforward. The American saved a match point with Noskova serving at 5-4 in the deciding set, firing an ace on game point before breaking serve in the following game to force her way back into contention.

She closed out the contest on her first match point, finishing with a career-high 16 aces in the victory.

"Linda's such a great player," Pegula said afterwards. "Every time we've played, if you see the scoreline of our past matches, it's literally the same match every time... I knew I was going to get my chances."

She added that the pattern of the match mirrored previous meetings between the two. "I felt like I did in the second, but then, you know, she's a Grand Slam champion, she's a great player and she did a great job to turn the match around." "And then I had to do the same in the third," she added.

Gauff's own win over Kostyuk was not short of drama either. Broken in the opening game, she recovered to lead 4-2 before the Ukrainian hit back, and Gauff then had to save three set points while trailing 5-1 in the second set, reeling off six straight games to close out the match.

Reflecting on the earlier loss to Noskova that ultimately cost her a semi-final place, Gauff told the WTA she had been slow to find her rhythm. "I think I started off a little bit slow, and Linda played really well," she said. "I think she capitalised on every opportunity that I gave her, and I think I had some opportunities but I didn't quite capitalise on them, and I think that was the difference today."

Gauff also spoke in defence of the round-robin format, which allows players to lose once and still progress depending on other results. "I think that's the fun thing about this tournament is you're never — well, you are out at some point — but you're never out on the first loss," she said. "So, I think that's something that is beautiful about it, and I'm looking forward to, hopefully, redeeming myself and giving myself a chance to stay in it."

Ahead of her final match, Gauff had indicated she would not be overly disappointed by a result that still saw her eliminated, saying her sole focus was on winning the match in front of her.

Pegula now advances to face group two winner Mirra Andreeva in Saturday's semi-final, a meeting that arrives in the shadow of a separate incident a week earlier, when a microphone installed to capture ambient sound on a practice court recorded Pegula describing the Russian teenager as a "diva". Andreeva said afterwards that Pegula had reached out to apologise and that she considered the matter closed.

Noskova, the Wimbledon champion, awaits the winner of the second semi-final as she bids to add a WTA Finals title to her season.