Attack the forehand as they might, Coco Gauff bounced back from her Wimbledon disappointment and produced an excellent week’s worth of tennis – not dropping a set – en route to her first WTA 500 title in Washington, after beating Maria Sakkari 6-2, 6-3 on Sunday night. How does she build from here?
Gauff gets it done, in much-needed morale boost
- Gauff becomes first teenager since returning former world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki to win four or more WTA titles in their teen years
- “It’s our first tournament as a full team, I’m glad we were able to make this result… and I was able to bounce back,” Gauff says on-court, having lost a competitive but frustrating three-set battle against Sofia Kenin at SW19
- 19-year-old has added former world no. 4-turned-commentator Brad Gilbert to her team in a consulting role, while crediting work with him and new head coach Pere Riba for improved serving performances as well as successfully implementing increased aggression throughout the week
Maria Sakkari was understandably heartbroken as she addressed the Washington crowd, falling short in another big match, but it’s not all doom and gloom for a 28-year-old Greek who herself has struggled for consistent results so far this season.
A beaten semifinalist in five events this term (Linz, Doha, Indian Wells, Madrid and Berlin), she broke that hoodoo against top seed Jessica Pegula but couldn’t complete the American trio after beating Madison Keys 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
Gauff dethroned defending champion Liudmila Samsonova, backing up her Belinda Bencic scalp in the previous round, and there was an ever-growing sense that the teenager would finally crack the code after flashes of brilliance in recent months.
Sakkari might’ve had a 4-1 H2H edge, but that didn’t matter to a 19-year-old whose critics have increased since her underwhelming end to a promising 2022 campaign.
Her serve is such a weapon when on form and her tournament-leading 25 aces is testament to that, earning cheap points and playing serve-plus-one tennis putting opponents on the back foot, rather than covering ground aplenty in longer rallies.
The issue has been an inability to rely on that deadly serve, or incorporating a more aggressive style of tennis, for fear of a groundstroke breaking down under duress.
That hesitancy – based on negative past experiences – leaves her vulnerable to being overly defensive, which the very top players feast on, no matter how fast she runs or how many rally balls she’s able to return in tight spaces. It’ll show eventually.
“The biggest takeaway, I think that it’s pretty clear what everybody’s going to play, I have consistently beaten that scouting report and that’s why players tend to get a little more frustrated,” she said on her forehand being targeted.
She won 72% of her first-serve points – Sakkari just 46% – and that forehand-focused scouting report might need a tweak or two if she continues to showcase improvements on that groundstroke in bigger tournaments, starting in Toronto.
So, what’s next?
Both players benefit from a first-round bye, being two of the top eight seeds (Gauff #6, Sakkari #8) and it’ll be interesting to see how both fare this coming week.
Gauff lost to eventual champion Simona Halep last year at the quarterfinal stage, while Sakkari lost in three sets against Karolina Pliskova.
Two-time Major titlist Halep can’t defend her title due to the ongoing drug suspension and has dropped more than 500 ranking places to #573 at the time of writing, though a big three of sorts have developed in the Romanian’s absence.
Just don’t tell Iga Swiatek that. She’s again battling with Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka for the world no. 1 spot this week – but will retain it should she better her third-round finish last year, regardless of the Belarusian’s result.
Elena Rybakina was a beaten finalist in Melbourne, and lost to Gauff in a deciding set tiebreak this time last year – the American can’t meet any of the trio until the semis.
Regardless, the field is deep: she could face the returning Caroline Wozniacki in R3, or newly-crowned Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova.
First though, she’ll play Britain’s number one Katie Boulter after the 27-year-old needed just 65 minutes to earn a 6-3, 6-1 win over Rebecca Marino overnight.
Having gone through qualifying with a pair of straight-sets wins over the weekend, Boulter benefited from a smart serving display (91% first serve points won) and dispatched the home hopeful in what quickly proved an error-prone showing.
This result has seen her rise to a new career-high world no. 58 – Gauff is next on Wednesday afternoon and she spoke briefly post-match about leaning on her Nottingham triumph for increased composure when things get tight.
Picture source: Getty Images
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