Witt says he was surprised to find out from Pegula that she would be going in another direction.
The talented Kazakh rises to No.23 after taking home the Montpellier title.
The 34-year-old's long journey has finally taken her to the Top 100.
The Russian will not defend his title at the 500-level event.
"Sooner or later he had to lose, we were all aware of that. It's just a shame that it happened this way," coach Goran Ivanisevic said of world No. 1.
Maxence Broville is suspended seven years and fined $5,000 for failure to co-operate with an ITIA investigation.
The Canadian has not played since last August due to a back injury.
