Jessica Pegula‘s build-up to the WTA Finals suffered a hit even before a point was played. She had to spend hours at the airport while heading to California after the staff at United Airlines committed a bizarre mishap. They cancelled her flight, but soon reinstated it without letting her know and left with her baggage. Pegula revealed the blunder and called out the airline on social media. While the American soon got a response from United, she wasn’t quite satisfied with it because it was generated through AI. However, she did praise one of their employees named Pete for his help and even made a heartwarming plea for him.

“No thanks to the AI response but thank you to Pete at bag services in PSP who was the only helpful one regarding our bags and actually did his job with pleasure! My plea is that he gets off of work to come watch the tennis @united,” she wrote on X.

Pegula’s trip to California was severely delayed due to United’s mishap. Unlike the other players who had already arrived and started practicing for the WTA Finals, the 32-year-old was left stranded at the airport, waiting for an update on her baggage. Her social media post brought United Airlines under the scanner for the second time in a little over two months.

The airline faced heavy criticism for its crew’s rude behavior towards Anastasia Potapova in late August. The Austrian had revealed on social media that a crew member named Mary had behaved poorly towards her and her dog Bula during her flight from Houston to New York.

United Airlines might have already developed a bad reputation, especially among tennis players, due to these two incidents. Players may now think twice before choosing to travel with them in the future.

Coming back, Pegula hasn’t made a competitive appearance since the Wuhan Open, which was held over two weeks ago. She was defeated 2-6, 7-6, 6-3 by Jelena Ostapenko in the Round of 32. This was the only tournament Pegula played in the Asian swing. She decided to miss a number of events due to physical fatigue, which came from a demanding North American swing.

Despite barely playing in October, Pegula was easily able to secure a place in the WTA Finals. She has had a strong season as a whole and has an impressive H2H record of 50-14. She stands at the fifth position in the rankings and is at the same spot in the race to the WTA Finals with 5,760 points.

Pegula is one of the two Americans who will be participating in the year-end tournament. Coco Gauff also qualified for the event after finishing fourth on the list with 5,763 points. Interestingly, the two will be up against each other in their opening match.

Jessica Pegula’s opponents for the WTA Finals have been decided

The draw for the WTA Finals took place on November 3. Following this, Pegula found herself in Group 1 alongside Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and Linda Noskova. The other group consists of Aryna Sabalenka, Mirra Andreeva, Elina Svitolina and Karolina Muchova.

The order of play for the first two days of the event has also been decided. The tournament will kick off with Rybakina taking on Noskova. Pegula will then play Gauff in the second match of the day. This will be their third meeting of the season.

Gauff had come out on top in the previous two matches, including the final of the Cincinnati Masters. In fact, she has defeated Pegula in four of their last five encounters. The H2H record is currently level at 5-5, so it remains to be seen who will take the lead by triumphing in California.

The singles schedule for the second day of the WTA Finals also consists of two great matches. The day will begin with Sabalenka locking horns against Muchova. This will be followed by Andreeva going up against Svitolina.