Team USA’s Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula leave the court after rain halted their match with Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova and Karolina Muchova. The match will be played at the 2024 Summer Olympics at Roland Garros Stadium in Paris, France, on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
PARIS — Coco Gauff lost in the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday, ending her first Summer Olympics, following a tearful defeat in the singles a day earlier.
“Finally, it’s all over,” the 20-year-old American said. “I’ll try to take the positives out of it and do better next time.”
Gauff and her American teammate, Jessica Pegula, were the top-seeded women’s pair, but were eliminated in the second round by the Czech Republic’s Caroline Muchova and Linda Noskova 2-6, 6-4, 10-5 in a match tiebreaker in the afternoon. Then, at night, Gauff and Taylor Fritz lost in mixed doubles to Canada’s Gaby Dabrowski and Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6 (2), 3-6, 10-8 in another match tiebreaker.
Read: Paris Olympics: Coco Gauff argued with the umpire and lost the match
In Olympic tennis, a first-to-10, two-win match tiebreaker is used in place of the traditional third set for all doubles matches.
On Tuesday, Gauff was defeated by Croatia’s Donna Vekic in straight sets in the third round of singles. Gauff, seeded second in that event, got into an argument with the chair umpire over a decision at the end of that match.
All in all, it was an abrupt end to the Olympics, as Team USA’s flag-bearer during the opening ceremony on Friday was hoping to leave the City of Light with three medals just a few days earlier. But instead, she finished 0-3.
Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula of Team USA face Linda Noskova and Karoline Muchova of the Czech Republic during their women’s doubles match at the 2024 Summer Olympics at Roland Garros Stadium in Paris, France, on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
“Obviously, I felt I had a good chance in all three events,” Gauff said.
This was Gauff’s first appearance at the Olympics; three years ago at age 17 she made the U.S. tennis team for Tokyo but was forced to drop out after testing positive for COVID-19 just before flying to Japan.
Gauff arrived in France this time around as one of the biggest stars in her sport, or any sport.
READ: Coco Gauff becomes Team USA’s flag bearer at Paris Olympics alongside LeBron
She won her first Grand Slam singles title at the U.S. Open in September last year, and her first major doubles title at the French Open in June — though it was not with Pegula, who withdrew with an injury, but with Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic.
Gauff has also reached the singles final of the French Open, where she lost the trophy to Iga Swiatek in 2022. The major tournament is played each year at Roland Garros, the same clay-court facility being used to host the tennis matches of the Paris Games.
Muchova was runner-up to Swiatek at last year’s French Open and reached the US Open semi-finals but lost to Gauff in a match interrupted for 50 minutes by climate protests.
Muchova returned to action in June after 10 months on the sidelines due to surgery on her right wrist.
Noskova held serve for the second set just before rain delayed the match on Wednesday, with the Czech Republic leading 5-4. When play resumed, she won that set, then dominated the tiebreaker.
“Honestly, sometimes 10-point tiebreakers are a little unlucky,” Pegula said. “He played a great tiebreaker.”
The 19-year-old Noskova won 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.
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Your subscription has been successful.
“I just stood there and let her play, and that’s how we won,” Muchova laughed about her partner.
Follow Inquirer Sports’ exclusive coverage of the Paris Olympics 2024.
