Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, the top-seeded women’s doubles team from the United States, faced a disappointing exit from the Paris 2024 Olympics on Wednesday. The American pair was defeated in the second round by the Czech duo of Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova in a closely contested match, ending with scores of 2-6, 6-4, 10-5 in a match tiebreaker.

This setback follows a tough few days for Gauff, who also experienced a heart-wrenching loss in singles. On Tuesday, she was ousted by Croatia’s Donna Vekic in straight sets during the third round. Gauff, seeded second in the singles draw, had a heated argument with the chair umpire over an officiating decision during that match.

Despite these challenges, Gauff remains focused on the remainder of her Olympic journey. She was one of the U.S. flag-bearers during the opening ceremony and had hoped to secure multiple medals in Paris. Gauff is scheduled to compete in mixed doubles with Taylor Fritz later today.

The 20-year-old Floridian arrived in France with high expectations, buoyed by recent successes that included winning her first Grand Slam singles title at the US Open last September and capturing her first major doubles title at the French Open in June. Notably, her doubles victory at Roland Garros came with Katerina Siniakova, not Pegula, who was sidelined due to injury at the time.

Gauff’s previous achievements also include reaching the singles final at the French Open in 2022, where she was defeated by Iga Swiatek. Muchova, who played alongside Noskova, was the runner-up to Swiatek at the French Open last year and reached the semifinals at the US Open, where she lost to Gauff in a match interrupted by a climate protest.

The match on Wednesday was interrupted by rain just before Noskova served for the second set with the Czechs ahead 5-4. After the delay, the Czech pair secured the set and dominated the decisive match tiebreaker, which is used in Olympic doubles instead of a traditional third set. Noskova clinched the victory with a volley winner.

Noskova’s standout performance came earlier this year at the Australian Open, where she defeated Swiatek in the third round, becoming the first teenager to beat a world No. 1 at Melbourne Park since 1999.