Jessica Pegula snaps winless streak with mixed doubles victory

WATCH: Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz (USA) defeat Marie Bouzková and Jiří Lehečka (CZE) in the 2023 United Cup

Jessica Pegula's finally back winning again, even if in the slightly unfamiliar discipline of mixed doubles.

The 28-year-old is coming off the best season of her career, having reached world No. 3 in the rankings and qualified for the WTA Finals in both singles and doubles—and yet she was also winless in six matches, having dropped all three singles and doubles round-robin contests in Fort Worth, Texas.

That streak stretched to seven as she began the season getting edged 7-6 (6), 6-4 against Petra Kvitova at the United Cup—but then she teamed with Taylor Fritz for a 2-6, 6-3 [10-7] win against Marie Bouzkova and Jiri Lehecka, helping the Americans to a 2-1 victory against the Czechs in Sydney.

Though there was no singles win for Pegula, she was happy with her performance against two-time Grand Slam champ Kvitova, who is 3-1 against her.

"I thought it was a high-level match for a solid two hours," said Pegula. "It's not always easy playing someone like her in the first match of the season."

There was more improvement in the mixed following a slow start. "We haven't played mixed before, have not played mixed for a while in general, so I think once we got a better strategy going and got a better feel for our games, it got a lot better," she told the crowd in Sydney.

The Americans will next play Germany in round-robin competition. The captain of the team, David Witt, is also the coach of Pegula. Both player and coach are aiming to build further on their recent success, which includes winning the WTA title in Guadalajara, Mexico, so far the biggest triumph of her career.