Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula are STUNNED in French Open women’s doubles semi-final

Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula have been sent packing from the French Open women’s doubles semi-final after being thrashed 6-0, 6-4 by Leylah Fernandez and Taylor Townsend at Roland Garros. 

The Canadian-American pair, seeded 10th, will face unseeded Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan and Wang Xinyu of China in Sunday’s final. Hsieh and Wang upset sixth-seeded Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

Gauff and Pegula, the No 2 seeds, were last year’s runner-up in women’s doubles at Roland Garros, where the Americans lost to Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic.

The 37-year-old Hsieh is a four-time Grand Slam doubles champion. Hsieh and Peng Shuai won the women’s doubles title at the 2014 French Open.

It will be the first Grand Slam final in doubles for Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open runner-up in singles.

Leylah Fernandez (left) looks delighted as she and Taylor Townsend secure the semi-final win

The winning pair, from Canada and the USA, celebrate beating their North American rivals

Pegula (left) and Gauff both underperformed at Roland Garros over a difficult fortnight

Townsend, in her only other major final, was runner-up with Caty McNally at last year’s U.S. Open to Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova.

The big defeat marks the end of a disappointing French Open campaign for Pegula and Gauff, who were both dumped out earlier than expected from the women’s singles.

No 6 seed Gauff made it to the quarter-finals before her straight-sets loss against the top seed Iga Swiatek, while No 3 seed Pegula was thrashed by No 28 seed Elise Mertens in the third round.

Pegula was also the top seed in the mixed doubles with Austin Krajicek, but they were beaten in a deciding set in the first round of the tournament by the unseeded French pair of Albano Olivetti and Elixane Lechemia.