PARIS (AP) — Coco Gauff lost in women’s doubles at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday, a day after her tearful exit in singles.
Gauff and her U.S. teammate, Jessica Pegula, were the top-seeded women’s pair but were eliminated in the second round by the Czech duo of Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova 2-6, 6-4, 10-5 in a match tiebreaker.
“We were playing well,” Gauff said. “Both of them just played a better tiebreaker.”
On Tuesday, Gauff was defeated by Donna Vekic of Croatia in straight sets in the third round of singles, where the American was seeded second. Gauff got into an argument with the chair umpire over an officiating decision close to the finish of that match.
Even after the two setbacks, Gauff still had something to play for in Paris, where she was one of the U.S. flag bearers during last week’s opening ceremony and had hoped to head home with three medals. She was scheduled to play in mixed doubles with Taylor Fritz later Wednesday.
“If I play like what I did today (with Pegula),” Gauff said, “we have a good chance.”
Gauff arrived in France as one of the biggest stars in her, or any, sport.
The 20-year-old from Florida won her first Grand Slam singles championship at the U.S. Open last September, and she collected her first major doubles title at the French Open in June — although not with Pegula, who was out injured, but with Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic.
Gauff also has reached a singles final at the French Open, losing the trophy to Iga Swiatek in 2022. That major tournament is played each year at Roland Garros, the same clay-court facility being used to host Paris Games tennis matches.
Muchova was the runner-up to Swiatek at the French Open last year and also made it to the semifinals at the U.S. Open before losing to Gauff in a match interrupted for 50 minutes by a climate protest.
Muchova returned to action in June after missing 10 months because of surgery on her right wrist.
Wednesday’s match was delayed because of rain right before Noskova served for the second set with the Czechs ahead 5-4. When play resumed, they took that set, then dominated the first-to-10, win-by-two match tiebreaker that is used in place of a traditional third set for all doubles matches at the Olympics.
“Honestly, sometimes 10-point tiebreakers are a little unlucky,” Pegula said. “They played pretty much the perfect tiebreaker.”
The 19-year-old Noskova closed out the victory with a volley winner.
Her biggest achievement to date came at the Australian Open in January, when she beat Swiatek in the third round. That made Noskova the first teenager to beat a No. 1-ranked woman at Melbourne Park since 1999.
“I was just standing there, letting her play,” Muchova said with a laugh about her partner, “and that’s how we won.”
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
