Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula STUNN in French Open women’s doubles semi-final as their North American rivals knock them out in straight sets
- Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula entered the game as heavy favorites and seeded No. 2
- Leylah Fernandez and Taylor Townsend defeated their rivals in straight sets
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula were expelled from the French Open women’s doubles semi-final after being beaten 6-0, 6-4 by Leylah Fernandez and Taylor Townsend at Roland Garros.
The Canadian-American duoseeded 10th, will face Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan and Wang Xinyu of China in Sunday’s final. Hsieh and Wang upset sixth seed Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
Gauff and Pegula, the No. 2 seeds, were finalists last year in women’s doubles at Roland Garros, where the Americans lost to Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic.
Hsieh, 37, is a four-time Grand Slam doubles champion. Hsieh and Peng Shuai won the women’s doubles title at the 2014 French Open.
This will be the first Grand Slam doubles final for Fernandez, the 2021 US Open singles runner-up.
Coco Gauff didn’t look like business as usual as the top-tier No. 2 seed was dumped
Leylah Fernandez (left) looks delighted as she and Taylor Townsend win the semi-final
The winning pair, from Canada and the United States, celebrate by beating their North American rivals
Pegula (left) and Gauff both underperformed at Roland Garros in a difficult fortnight
Townsend, in her only other major final, finished second with Caty McNally at last year’s US Open ahead of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova.
The big defeat marks the end of a disappointing French Open campaign for Pegula and Gauff, who were both eliminated earlier than expected from the women’s singles.
No. 6 seed Gauff advanced to the quarter-finals before losing in straight sets to top seed Iga Swiatek, while No. 3 seed Pegula was beaten by the No. series no 28, Elise Mertens, in the third round.
Pegula was also the mixed doubles seed along with Austin Krajicek, but they were beaten in a deciding set in the first round of the tournament by the unseeded French pair of Albano Olivetti and Elixane Lechemia.
