Tag: Coco Gauff

French Open champion Coco Gauff captured her third WTA 1000 title and first in Wuhan after rallying from two breaks down in the second set to defeat fellow American Jessica Pegula 6-4 7-5 in Sunday’s final.

Gauff, who reached the Wuhan semi-finals last year, trailed 0-3 in the second set but clawed her way back, reducing the deficit to 3-5 before winning four straight games to seal victory in straight sets.

The 21-year-old secured her 11^th  career WTA singles title, adding to her WTA 1000 triumphs in Cincinnati (2023) and Beijing (2024), and reached her third final at this level in 2025 after runner-up finishes in Madrid and Rome.

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Current world number three Coco Gauff, the 2023 U.S. Open champion, is the first woman in a decade to win nine consecutive hard-court finals, a feat last achieved by Serena Williams, who won 12 between the 2013 U.S. Open and 2015 Cincinnati.

Pegula and Gauff, former doubles partners who won titles together in Miami and Doha in 2023, played against each other in a final for the first time in their career.

“When I came on tour, you (Pegula) were one of the first people to be nice to me and welcome me with open arms. And that really goes a long way and still goes a long way,” Gauff said during the trophy presentation.

“So I appreciate you. And it’s great to finally play in a final against you.”

Pegula, who beat world number one and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday’s semi-final to end her 20-match unbeaten run in Wuhan, has played 27 three-set contests in 2025.

The 31-year-old’s last eight matches have all gone the distance, and she has won seven of them.

“You’ve been playing a lot of three-setters — you’re a three-set queen,” Gauff said.

“I’d like to congratulate you on an incredible tournament. I was determined not to let you get there today because I felt the odds would be in your favour in a third set.”

Coco Gauff defeated Aryna Sabalenka in three sets on Saturday to win the French Open, marking the first time the 21-year-old has won at Roland Garros in her young career.

To claim her second career Grand Slam title, Gauff won the three-set battle (6-7, 6-2, 6-4) to beat Sabalenka. After the victory, Gauff expressed nothing but respect for Sabalenka, the No. 1-ranked player in the world.

“I’d like to congratulate Aryna,” Gauff said. “You’re a fighter. You’re the #1 player in the world. I know today was a tough match, but you deserve all the results you’ve been having. Every time we play, it’s such a tough match for me. Congratulations. Hopefully, we play many more.”

Sabalenka fought back tears acknowledging the loss, hurt, especially after not playing her best tennis, but she was congratulatory of Gauff on the well-earned victory.

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“Coco, congrats,” Sabalenka said. “In these tough conditions, you were a better player than I. Well done on a great two weeks. Congrats on the second Grand Slam, well deserved here. You’re a fighter, hard worker, so congrats to you and your team.”

Entering Saturday’s matchup, Gauff and Sabalenka had previously faced off twice in majors and split those matchups 1-1. Gauff beat Sabalenka in the 2023 U.S. Open final to win her first Grand Slam, while Sabalenka won the most recent Grand Slam matchup between the two, defeating Gauff in the 2024 Australian Open semifinals.

There will surely be more matchups to come between the two great competitors. Sabalenka has three Grand Slam titles but is still seeking her first French Open win, and Gauff is now up to two Grand Slam victories.

Coco Gauff reached a fifth straight French Open quarter-final and was joined in the last eight by Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva.

World number two Gauff brushed Russian 20^th  seed Ekaterina Alexandrova aside 6-0, 7-5 to step up her pursuit of a first Roland Garros crown, and second Grand Slam title.

 “It was tough. The whole match I think I played well to be honest,” said Gauff, a losing finalist in Paris in 2022.

Former US Open champion Gauff will play reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys or unseeded Hailey Baptiste in an all-American quarter-final.

Sixth seed Andreeva also moved through in straight sets as she cut short an attempted fightback by hitting partner and ex-compatriot Daria Kasatkina to advance 6-3, 7-5.

Kasatkina, ranked 17, is now playing for Australia after switching allegiance from her native Russia.

 “It was a hell of a match,” said Andreeva. “Honestly I’m so,  so happy I won, I hate playing against her, we practise a lot and even practice is a torture for me.”

She is through to her second major quarter-final, having reached the last four at Roland Garros 12 months ago when she knocked out Aryna Sabalenka.

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The 18-year-old Andreeva is the youngest woman to reach back-to-back Roland Garros quarter-finals since Martina Hingis in 1997-98.

She next plays either third-ranked American Jessica Pegula or France’s last remaining player in Paris, Lois Boisson.

World number 361 Boisson is the lowest-ranked competitor left in the draw.

 “Obviously… (Boisson’s) going to have some crazy support,” said 2024 US Open runner-up Pegula.

 “I think it will be fun. It will be cool to be a part of that.”

Coco Gauff said   she felt “invincible” after the recent United Cup and is not fazed about dropping her first set in nine matches this season in reaching the Australian Open quarter-finals.

The American world number three beat Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 on a red-hot Rod Laver Arena to set up a meeting with 11^th  seed Paula Badosa of Spain.

 “Two out of three sets at this stage of my career is not that physically hard for me,” said the 20-year-old Gauff, who is chasing a first Melbourne title.

 “The off-season I just put in so much work physically so I’m not worried at all about recovering emotionally or mentally,” added Gauff, who won all five of her singles in Perth and Sydney to lead the US to a United Cup team triumph.

 “The United Cup was a little bit more exhausting because of the fact that I finished at 1:00 am one night, then had to fly across the country and play.

 “That was more of the mental, emotional test.

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 “Honestly, I feel like after playing that whole United Cup, I felt pretty invincible.”

Gauff added that 34 degrees Celsius (93 Fahrenheit) temperatures during her match on Sunday did not bother her.

 “I guess weather-wise, I felt pretty confident in my physicality,” she said after her ninth victory of the season and 13th straight going back to last year’s WTA Tour Finals.

 “Being from Florida, like it was hot, but Florida in September, August, is really disgusting,” she added.

The fourth-round encounter went with serve in the early skirmishes but the big-hitting Bencic’s ability to mix up her shots unsettled the American.

Gauff had not dropped a set in eight matches this season, but was put under the pump by Bencic who converted a second break point in the ninth game.

 “I thought in the first set that she played great tennis and it was tough for me to be on the offensive,” said Gauff.

 “I just played more aggressively in the second set and then also the third set. Overall, I’m happy with how I played.”

Gauff turned it around in the second set to take it to a decider.

Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Bencic came in with a 2-1 win-loss record over Gauff but their last meeting was in 2023.

A few weeks later Bencic took maternity leave to give birth to daughter Bella and she only returned to tennis at the end of 2024.

A hard-fought hold after three deuces set the American on her way at the start of the third set as Bencic started to feel the heat.

Gauff wore her down and broke for 3-1 before closing out Bencic in 2hr 26min.

Badosa, who beat Serbia’s Olga Danilovic 6-1, 7-6 (7⁄2), is into a quarter-final at Melbourne Park for the first time.

Coco Gauff  has extended her unbeaten start to the year  but had to survive a second-set wobble in a 6-3, 7-5 win over Jodie Burrage at the Australian Open.

The American world number three, who ousted former Melbourne champion Sofia Kenin in the first round, overcame the Briton in 1hr 29min to reach the third round.

She plays Canada’s 30^th  seed Leylah Fernandez on Friday for a place in the last 16.

Big-hitting Burrage served for the second set at 5-3 but nerves overcame her in a maiden appearance on Rod Laver Arena and she double-faulted twice to allow Gauff to level.

Burrage’s second-set collapse was completed when her sixth double-fault handed Gauff another break to lead 6-5 and she won on the first match point.

 “It was tough. She was serving really well so I was just trying to manage that,” said Gauff.

 “She really stepped her level up in the middle of the second set, so I was just trying to be offensive when I could because if I landed anything short she was hitting a winner.”

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Gauff was suffering on her own delivery, dishing up seven double faults as she was broken three times by the world number 173.

“She was returning well so it put pressure on my serve. Next time I need to mix up the targets a bit.”

Gauff stayed in control of other aspects of her game, committing only 18 unforced errors in the match and smacking 14 winners.

The 25-year-old Burrage, who is on the comeback trail after missing six months of last year after wrist surgery and a knee injury, landed 21 winners, 16 off her powerful forehand.

Burrage’s first-round win over Leolia Jeanjean of France was her first at a Grand Slam since the 2023 US Open.

Gauff lost in the semi-final to eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka in Melbourne 12 months ago.

She has been drawn to meet the Belarusian at the same stage this year as she seeks a second Grand Slam title after winning the US Open in 2023.

On current performances, the 20-year-old Gauff must be rated a major contender having finished 2024 with a flourish by winning the China Open and the season-ending WTA Tour Finals.

She took that form to Australia, winning all her singles matches at the United Cup including beating world number two Iga Swiatek in straight sets.

Coco Gauff, the American tennis star, and 2023 US Open champion, is still only 20 years old but she has displayed a wisdom and thoughtfulness that belie her youth. And this was especially evident during her brilliant run to the title at the WTA Finals in Riyadh last week.

Gauff’s mixed feelings about playing in Saudi Arabia proved that there was an effective middle ground to take, as she effectively threaded the needle in navigating how best to handle the situation.

“Obviously I’m a woman. I was very concerned. My dad was very concerned with me coming here,” Gauff said before the tournament. “’I would be lying to you if I said I had no reservations. Obviously, you know who I am and the things I speak about. I was pretty much on every player call I could make with WTA. One of the things I said, if we come here, we can’t just come here and play our tournament and leave. Like, we have to have a real program or real plan in place.”

And, true to her word, Gauff did make sure to communicate directly with women in Saudi Arabia. “We spoke with a lot of women here in Saudi. One of them was Princess Reema. Multiple calls with her, how the best approach would be to enter into this different place that women have never kind of, women from the US, have never kind of been in. I think for me it was important, and it was one of the questions I brought up because about LGBTQ issues, women’s rights issues, how we can help with that.”

Finally, Gauff brought it full circle, incorporating her own family history of facing prejudice, Gauff stated said, “I think knowing from the past from my grandmother, integrating her school, people aren’t going to like it, but obviously in the long run I think it could be better for everybody,’ Gauff said.

Most tellingly, Gauff told reporters that her decision to play Riyadh in the future (the city is under contract to host the Finals again in 2025 and 2026) is not unconditional, saying, “If I felt uncomfortable or it felt like nothing’s happening, then … I probably wouldn’t come back.”

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Oh yes, lest we forget the reason why Gauff was in Riyadh, she also managed to win the year-end tour title, defeating the world’s top two players (Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka) in straight sets along the way, and coming back in the Finals against Qinwen Zheng to secure the championship and take home the highest-ever payday in women’s tennis.

This concludes an utterly torrid stretch of play for Gauff during the fall swing. Following her disappointing fourth-round defeat to countrywoman Emma Navarro at the US Open and parting of ways with coach Brad Gilbert, no one could have foreseen Gauff embarking on a dominant six weeks of play where she won the tour-level 1000 event in Beijing, made the semis in Wuhan and then her victory in Riyadh.

With new coach Matt Daly, Gauff has obviously been making changes to her game, specifically on the serve. While she has been somewhat coy about those changes, it’s clear from watching her that her serving grip has been altered and her forehand is finishing higher over the shoulders, in somewhat Nadal-like fashion.

I asked Daly about those changes and he replied simply, “All credit to Coco to be willing to work on her game while playing tournaments.” Indeed, for a player of Gauff’s caliber to make swing or grip changes in the midst of competition is further testament to her preternatural competitive focus and commitment.

Looking ahead to 2025, her newfound serving prowess will undoubtedly be a boon to her chances at Wimbledon on the slick grass, where she has never advanced past the round of 16.

World number four Coco Gauff said that everyone should accept the roller-coaster nature of tennis, as she responded to criticism of her results this season.

Gauff claimed what she described as an “unexpected” title at the China Open in Beijing last week and is on the cusp of securing her qualification for the season-ending WTA Finals for a third consecutive year.

Despite reaching two Grand Slam semi-finals and winning two titles this year, the 20-year-old Gauff has been under scrutiny, especially after her unsuccessful US Open defence last month.

 “People don’t realise people have great moments in sports and bad moments,” Gauff told reporters at the Wuhan Open, where she faces Viktoriya Tomova in the second round today.

 “It doesn’t mean anything. I took inspiration from A’ja Wilson,” she said, referring to the Las Vegas Aces back-to-back basketball WNBA champion.

 “She’s kind of like, ‘It’s hard to stay winning all the time. You need to go through losses to realise what you need to do to evolve’.

 “Tennis fans need to be more accepting of that, ” said Gauff.

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Meanwhile, China’s Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen said Tuesday she was “feeling the responsibility” as the new face of Chinese tennis and admitted she needed to find a way to handle the pressure.

Zheng shot to superstar status in her home country after reaching the Australian Open final and winning Paris gold this year.

 “There is a lot of activity for me, but I enjoy it. Especially I saw there are pictures of me everywhere. I mean, yes, that’s insane,” said Zheng, who turned 22 on Tuesday.

 “People have big expectations of me here. I hope I could stay here longer. But tennis is always tough to predict.

“Of course, there is pressure. I’m also feeling the responsibility as a leader of the new generation, meaning what you are saying is under public scrutiny.”

World number six Coco Gauff dominated unseeded Czech Karolina Muchova to win the China Open final 6-1 6-3  yesterday and become the first player to win each of their first seven WTA hardcourt finals in the Open Era.

Gauff fired off 24 winners in a strong performance to add the Beijing trophy to her win in the Auckland Classic this year and win the second WTA 1000 title of her career after her 2023 victory in Cincinnati, where she also beat Muchova in the final.

Gauff, who improved her head-to-head record against Muchova to 3-0, has won eight of her nine WTA finals.

“I want to say congratulations to you, Karolina, it’s great to see you back on tour,” Gauff said of her opponent Muchova, who spent an extended spell on the sidelines after suffering a wrist injury at the 2023 U.S. Open.

“I think you’re such an amazing player, and you deserve everything, and hopefully you play many more finals.”

The tournament was Gauff’s first after adding Matt Daly to her coaching team, following her split with Brad Gilbert last month.

“I would like to thank my team. It’s our first tournament together as a full, complete team,” Gauff said.

“Thank you Matt, this is our first tournament together, and obviously, it’s going well, so thank you for helping me throughout this week.”

Heading into the final, Gauff had lost the first set in three straight matches and the former U.S. Open champion seemed determined to buck that trend, serving to love in the opening game and breaking early for a 2-0 lead.

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The American continued to build on that momentum with two more holds to love, before breaking once again to go 5-1 ahead.

After dropping no points in her first three service games, some doubt crept in as Gauff was forced to defend a break point, but she was able to clinch the set with an emphatic forehand winner.

Gauff’s serve continued to falter early in the second set, leading to two double faults in her opening service game as Muchova broke for a 2-0 lead, but the American responded by turning up the aggression and approaching the net to break back immediately.

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Muchova, who beat Australian Open and U.S. Open champion Aryna Sabalenka and Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in previous rounds, appeared deflated after losing her advantage and won just two points in the next three games as Gauff eased to a 4-2 lead.