Pegula, the top seed and defending champion in Austin, had been scheduled to face Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova in her opening match.
The withdrawal comes on the World No. 5’s 32nd birthday, and just days after she claimed her 10th career WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz title in Dubai.
It was quite the busy week for Pegula at the second WTA 1000 tournament of the season, winning five matches — including a pair of back-to-back three-setters — in five days.
After winning the title, she told WTAtennis.com’s Greg Garber that despite being older than many of her Top 20 counterparts, she feels as healthy and durable as ever.
“I’m old, you can say it,” she said with a laugh. “I don’t feel that old because I had so many injuries in my early 20s. I don’t think I’ve built up the wear and tear on tour yearly. I was hurt a lot. I was able to mature and find my game and believe in what I needed to do through the ups and downs.
“I hope I can inspire girls to show that you don’t have to be 20 years old. You can still play really good tennis if you take care of your body and keep improving. So yeah, I’m really proud of myself that I can do that as a player at 32 now.”
Pegula is now 13-2 on the young season, with her lone losses coming to Marta Kostyuk in the Brisbane semifinals and Elena Rybakina in the Australian Open semifinals. She’s reached the semifinals at seven consecutive events dating back to last year’s US Open, the most since Agnieszka Radwanska from 2015-16.
Pegula had a dominant run in her Austin debut last year, dropping just one set and defeating countrywoman McCartney Kessler 7-5, 6-2 in the final.
She’s been replaced in the draw by lucky loser Yuan Yue, who won this tournament in 2024. Australian Open quarterfinalist Iva Jovic is now the top seed.
Pegula is scheduled to play Indian Wells next, and then Miami, where she made the final last year.