Indian Wells.Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova performed brilliantly on Tuesday by defeating Coco Gauff in straight sets to reach the semi-finals of the WTA Finals. Meanwhile, Jessica Pegula kept her hopes of reaching the last four alive by defeating Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk.
Czech Republic's eighth seed Noskova defeated Gauff 6-3, 6-3 in the Group 1 match. Taking advantage of Gauff's weak serve, she broke her four times in the first set and won the set 6-3.
Noskova also achieved a decisive break at the beginning of the second set. After this, he ended the match by hitting his ninth ace in the match and secured his ticket to the semi-finals.
After the win, Noskova said, “I am very happy. Every win is important in this competition. Coco is a big rival, so I had to be ready for every challenge today.”
“Against Coco, you have to play till the last point because she can come back at any time with her serve and her ability to fight. I thought I played a great game to put pressure on her,” she said.
Noskova had also defeated Ukraine's Kostyuk in her opening group match on Sunday.
Pegula keeps hopes alive by defeating Kostyuk
On the other hand, America's Jessica Pegula defeated Kostyuk 6-2, 7-5 in a match full of ups and downs. With this defeat Kostyuk was out of the tournament.
Now there will be a fight between Coco Gauff and Pegula for the last player to reach the semi-finals from Group 1.
Pegula had lost to Gauff in her opening match on Sunday. But on Tuesday he made a spectacular comeback and defeated Kostyuk.
After the win, Pegula said, “I think I am playing well. My match against Coco was of a very high level and today's match was also great.”
Describing Kostyuk's playing style as challenging, he said, “It is very difficult to play against him, because you do not know what is going to happen in the next moment.
She suddenly starts playing faster shots, comes to the net, becomes aggressive on returns or her serve starts becoming excellent. That's why it's difficult to play against him.”
Pegula showed patience in the second set
The 32-year-old Pegula completely dominated the first set. He broke Kostyuk in the first and seventh games to win the set 6–2.
The match became very exciting in the second set. In the beginning there were four consecutive service breaks. After this, Kostyuk saved his serve and took a lead of 3-2.
In the next game, the Ukrainian player had a chance to break Pegula's serve, but she could not take advantage of the break point. Pegula saved the serve and made the score 3-3. After this, both the players maintained their respective serves in the next four games.
The turning point came in the 11th game, when Pegula broke Kostyuk. He succeeded on the fourth break point and took a lead of 6-5 and then won the match by saving his serve. Pegula's victory was sealed when Kostyuk's forehand shot went out of the court.