By Rory Carroll
INDIAN WELLS, California, Nov 12 (Reuters) – Jessica Pegula saved a match point en route to a gritty 7-6(2) 4-6 7-5 win over Linda Noskova on Thursday to advance out of her round-robin group at the WTA Finals and send fellow American Coco Gauff packing from the season-ending championships.
Pegula had a career-high 16 aces while big-serving Wimbledon champion Noskova had a career-high 15 double faults in a see-saw battle that spanned 2 hours and 45 minutes at the tournament, which was moved from Riyadh to Indian Wells due to the US-Israeli war on Iran.
In the end, Noskova, Gauff and Pegula all finished 2-1 in the group while alternate Marta Kostyuk went 0-3.
Noskova went 5-2 in sets to win the group, followed by Pegula at 5-3 and Gauff at 4-3.
The win sets up a first meeting between Pegula and Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Earlier, Gauff rallied to beat Kostyuk 6-4 7-5 on Stadium Two.
After sealing the first set with a stab volley that sent fans leaping to their feet under sunny California desert skies, Gauff rallied from 1-5 down in the second, winning six games in a row.
“I was fully prepared to play a third set there,” said Gauff, who needed treatment on her hip during the second set.
Kostyuk, who won the Madrid title and reached the French Open semi-finals, was already eliminated coming into her match against Gauff having lost to Noskova and Pegula.
Kostyuk, who joined the eight-player tournament as an alternate after world number one Elena Rybakina withdrew due to illness, failed to win a set in her three matches.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Indian Wells, California; Editing by Ed Osmond and Thomas Derpinghaus)
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