Round Robin defeats become race to recover for dejected Ons Jabeur, Jessica Pegula

WATCH: Pegula tried to rebound after her singles defeat to Maria Sakkari, but endured a second loss in doubles with Coco Gauff.

FORT WORTH, Texas—The WTA Finals touts its round-robin draw as the ultimate opportunity for redemption: unlike every other top-tier tournament, a single loss does not guarantee elimination and thereby allows players with one defeat—or even two, like 2015 and 2016 champions Agnieszka Radwanska and Dominika Cibulkova—to remain in contention for the title.

But for those unfamiliar with the format’s potential for emotional whiplash, returning to the proverbial scene of the crime isn’t immediately appetizing.

Jessica Pegula was certainly ready to go home after a long night saw her endure two losses—first in singles to Maria Sakkari and later in doubles alongside Coco Gauff—and still face requests for press.

“Right now, I just kind of want to go sleep,” she sighed on the dais just before 1AM. “I was hoping you guys wouldn't be here!”

Still, the American tried to take her WTA Finals debut-turned-crash-landing in stride despite the harrowing odds: her straight-set defeat to Sakkari means she must at least win a set to stay alive, and even that may not be enough should she lose to No. 2 seed Ons Jabeur and Aryna Sabalenka defeats her Greek conqueror on Wednesday.

“It definitely feels a little weird, because you're like, ‘Oh, who do I play next?’ even though I just lost,” the No. 3 seed mused. “So, it's a different feeling. But I think once you get out there at all feels the same, you still want to win, and it's still as a tournament. So, I don't think that mindset changes much.

“I think I'll bounce back okay,” she added later. “I'm obviously disappointed I lost but I honestly thought I played pretty well. And I thought it was a high-level match. I thought Maria played really well. So I don't really think it's a negative. Hopefully, I can reset and play as well on Wednesday, we'll see. Easier said than done. I hope that's what happens. But I think I'll reset pretty quickly mentally. You know, I feel like I'm still playing well. So, I want to give myself a chance Wednesday to do that.”

While Pegula can rue some missed chances after dropping a pair of tiebreakers to Sakkari, Jabeur was much more distraught given how much closer she was to victory over Sabalenka. Leading the Belarusian 5-3 in the second-set tiebreaker, she double-faulted down set point and tensed up again at 4-2 in the third for a 3-6, 7-5 (5), 7-5 defeat.

I usually have more time, obviously, but I don't know, this time I have to really put my thoughts in the right direction. Definitely put the anger that I have inside in the right direction. And yes, we are both in the same situation with Jess. So, I'm just gonna challenge myself and see how I'm gonna react in this one. Ons Jabeur on processing defeat

“I still got the chance here, but usually it's tough to sleep after a tough loss like this,” she said with a wry smile in her post-match press conference. “We'll have to get used to it and train tomorrow, and be ready for the next match.”

The Tunisian trailblazer had weeks in between her last two losses at the US Open and at home in Monastir, making 48 hours to reset against an optimistic Pegula an unenviable task—one that the self-anointed Minister of Happiness was loathe to entertain.

“I usually have more time, obviously, but I don't know, this time I have to really put my thoughts in the right direction. Definitely put the anger that I have inside in the right direction. And yes, we are both in the same situation with Jess. So, I'm just gonna challenge myself and see how I'm gonna react in this one. Definitely a lot of pressure on both of us. I'm gonna do my best to really get my head focused now and focus on the win.”

In the meantime, Jabeur was in a place of coulda-shoulda-woulda, the worst possible mindset in a format where every game counts.

“I felt like I was I was doing great and control especially the first set. I played a lot of practice points with the different players and it felt really well. Maybe just a few points were missing. A few like, you know, a lot of ‘I should have done that before,’ you know? ‘I just should have did that, should have went for the return, a lot of break points.’ So, that doesn't really help my mentality right now.”