Coco Gauff: American teenager seals fourth career WTA Tour title with victory in Washington
Teenager Coco Gauff sealed a fourth career WTA Tour title – and second of the year – with a straight-sets win over Maria Sakkari in the final of the Washington Open.
Gauff capped off a resurgent week in the nation’s capital to pick up her first WTA 500 title with a 6-2 6-3 success against Maria Sakkari.
The 19-year-old became the youngest champion in the event’s history and the third American woman to win the singles title, following Jessica Pegula (2019) and Sloane Stephens (2015) and she also became the first teenager to win four or more titles since Caroline Wozniacki.
“I’m heading in the right direction,” said the runner-up at the 2022 French Open, who did not lose a set all week and conceded just 19 total games across four matches to take home her second title of the season after winning in Auckland in January.
Gauff, who was beaten in the first round at Wimbledon, credited her work with new coach Pere Riba and Brad Gilbert for her improved serving and aggression throughout the week.
“It’s our first tournament as a full team,” Gauff said. “I’m glad that we were able to make this result. I know those who were with me at Wimbledon… it was really tough a couple of weeks ago. We were all feeling it. I’m glad I was able to bounce back.”
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She came out firing to build a comfortable 3-0 lead and was a point away from a double-break advantage, but 28-year-old Sakkari from Greece, who reached two Grand Slam semi-finals in 2021, closed the gap to 3-2 before Gauff won the last four games to take the opener.
Despite breaking Gauff in the opening game Sakkari was unable to fend off the American’s serve and vicious forehand as she generated 10 break points across the match and broke serve six times to land the biggest title of her career.
“Consistently this week, I have beaten that scouting report, and I think that’s why the players tend to get a little more frustrated,” Gauff said.
“Almost all week, every player that I played has been looking at their box, because I truly think that the plan that they had I was able to kind of combat. Today, she clearly had a plan, and I kind of just made that plan fizzle out a little bit.”
Gauff and Sakkari now head to Montreal for the National Bank Open, which begins on Monday.
Wozniacki makes her return to tennis
Caroline Wozniacki last played in April 2022 but will return to tennis on Tuesday
Former world No 1 Wozniacki will be back on the court for the first time in over three years when she faces Australia’s Kimberly Birrell in Canada on Tuesday.
The first-round match will be Wozniacki’s first since she retired after the 2020 Australian Open.
“Tennis-wise, I feel like I’m doing great in practice and it’s going to be just fine when I’m out there,” Wozniacki said. “So I’m not stressing. I’m not worried. It’s just about getting more and more matches in and the more I play, the better I’m going to play. I hope that I’m going to be at my peak for the US Open.
“Realistically when you haven’t been on tour and haven’t played a match in so long, no matter how much you practice, how many practice sets you’ve done, you can never replicate being on a match court.”
