Coco Gauff gives one sign for optimism despite serving 17 double faults against Jessica Pegula

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Coco Gauff endured a frustrating start to her WTA Finals title defence as she lost her opener to fellow American Jessica Pegula.

Gauff won the WTA Finals in 2024 thanks to a superb run in Riyadh, but defeat was suffered against Pegula in her first match of this year’s event.

She lost 3-6, 7-6(7-4), 2-6 in their two-hour, 12-minute match, in which Gauff served up a huge 17 double faults.

Her struggles in that area throughout her relatively brief career have been well-documented, with Gauff hiring Gavin MacMillan before this year’s US Open in a bid to improve her serve.

Coco Gauff gives one sign for optimism despite 17 double faults vs Jessica Pegula

Hitting 17 double faults undoubtedly played a key part in the American’s opening defeat in Riyadh, but she did show one sign for optimism against Pegula.

Such double faults have understandably stolen the limelight, but Gauff produced a handful of very fast serves, many of which landed as aces.

She fired down eight aces in total compared to Pegula’s five, and hit the second fastest serve of her career at 205km/h (127.4 mph).

Indeed, Pegula praised Gauff’s serving immediately after their match, having clearly been left impressed by certain aspects of it.

Sorting the toss and serve must continue to be the priority for the WTA number three, who can take her game to another level entirely if she manages to fix the issue.

READ MORE: Jessica Pegula states what you can’t do against Coco Gauff after beating her at the WTA Finals

Where does Coco Gauff rank among the fastest-ever serves on the WTA Tour?

Gauff has endured a longstanding battle with her serve, although it certainly hasn’t always worked against her.

She fired down a 206km/h (128.0 mph) effort at the 2022 US Open, and one of 201km/h at the 2024 Australian Open.

Speaking of the skill in 2024, Gauff told The AO Show podcast: “My serve is something I wanted to improve the pace. I think when it’s on, it’s pretty tough to stop.

“I don’t know how fast I can get it, my fastest is 128mph (206km/h), I want to get to 130 (209.2km/h) one day.”

Intriguingly world number one Aryna Sabalenka, who represents one of the biggest servers on the WTA Tour, previously worked with MacMillan.

It won’t be a quick fix for Gauff, but it seems she must focus on reducing the double faults before concentrating on increasing service speed.