(Provided by Tennis World USA)
Top-seeded Cori Gauff and Jessica Pegula fell just short of winning their third title of the year after losing to Storm Hunter and Elise Mertens in the Rome final. Hunter and Mertens, seeded at No 4, upset Gauff and Pegula in the Rome doubles final 6-4 6-4.
Hunter and Mertens earned the first break of the match in the third game but Gauff and Pegula got the break back in the eighth game to tie the first set to four games apiece. However, blowing an early first-set break didn’t impact Hunter and Mertens, who broke Gauff and Pegula again in the ninth game before serving out for the opener in the following game.
After losing the first set, Gauff and Pegula bounced back at the start of the second set as the American duo had a 4-1 lead. But then, Gauff and Pegula’s game collapsed as Hunter and Mertens won the next five games to overturn a second-set deficit and complete a two-set win.
After winning it all in Doha and Miami, Gauff and Pegula have now been beaten in back-to-back finals – Madrid and Rome.
Hunter, Mertens on beating Gauff, Pegula
“I think in the first set we were a little bit more dominant, the ones who were crossing, putting first serves in.
I…
