Away from a tennis courtroom, Coco Gauff continues to be, in some methods, a typical teen, rolling her eyes at receiving FaceTime calls from a youthful sibling — “I’m at press proper now, Bro” — and her father — “Oh, my God” — whereas two variations of the DC Open trophy she earned Sunday sat on the desk in entrance of her.
With a racket in her hand, Gauff shouldn’t be typical in any respect, as her success to date exhibits. And after the frustration of a first-round exit at Wimbledon final month, the 19-year-old from Florida seems again to her greatest as the beginning of the U.S. Open approaches later this month.
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Surging on the finish of every set, Gauff defeated Maria Sakkari 6-2, 6-3 within the Washington remaining for the fourth WTA Tour singles title of her profession. Gauff is the youngest girls’s champion of the hard-court event within the nation’s capital and the primary participant since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009 to win 4 WTA tournaments as a youngster.
“I might say,” mentioned Gauff, who’s ranked No. 7 and was seeded No. 3, “I’m on target.”
Effectively, there’s an understatement.
“She’s already close to the highest, however there’s loads of room to get higher,” mentioned Gauff’s new coach, Pere Riba, who was joined on her staff by marketing consultant Brad Gilbert in Washington. “I’m blissful, in fact, that she received the event. I’m extra blissful about the way in which she did it. Her power and angle are extra necessary for the long run.”
What per week it was, although.
Gauff, the runner-up on the 2022 French Open, didn’t drop a set and ceded simply 19 whole video games throughout 4 matches.
Evans wins males’s title
At evening, Dan Evans grew to become, at age 33, the oldest males’s champion in Washington since Jimmy Connors was 35 in 1988 by beating Tallon Griekspoor 7-5, 6-3 in a remaining delayed by greater than two hours within the second set due to a thunderstorm.
It was the second ATP Tour title for Evans, who was simply 8-18 in 2023 earlier than the DC Open and now will rise from No. 30 to a career-high No. 21 within the rankings Monday.
“I needed to maintain telling myself it was match-by-match, and never so way back I wasn’t enjoying nice,” he mentioned. “It was a great effort mentally to simply keep within the current and maintain preventing for every level. And I did an amazing job of that this week.”
Daniel Evans, of Britain, holds the trophy after defeating Tallon Griekspoor, of the Netherlands, within the males’s singles remaining of the DC Open tennis event Sunday, Aug. 6, 2023, in Washington. (AP Picture/Alex Brandon)
| Picture Credit score:
Alex Brandon
Daniel Evans, of Britain, holds the trophy after defeating Tallon Griekspoor, of the Netherlands, within the males’s singles remaining of the DC Open tennis event Sunday, Aug. 6, 2023, in Washington. (AP Picture/Alex Brandon)
| Picture Credit score:
Alex Brandon
This was the primary yr the event was a mixed ATP-WTA 500 occasion. Regardless of equal billing, the prize cash wasn’t the identical — and received’t be till 2027. Gauff earned $120,150; Evans acquired $353,445.
Along with the No. 9-ranked Sakkari, Gauff eradicated defending champion Liudmila Samsonova and Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Belinda Bencic.
“The calibre of gamers I’ve beat this week was in all probability the strongest out of all the tournaments I’ve performed,” mentioned Gauff, who hit seven aces Sunday whereas enhancing to 4-1 in singles finals.
This was her second title of 2023, alongside one in Auckland, New Zealand, in January.
One large key this time was an improved forehand, lengthy thought-about a weak level. Pere targeted on altering her footwork so she could be in a greater place to strike that shot and use it to assault.
“Everyone knows that her forehand was at all times her weaker shot. I really feel like now she’s enhancing that. She’s making extra balls. She’s engaged on that,” mentioned Sakkari, a 28-year-old from Greece who reached two Grand Slam semifinals in 2021. “Mentally, she appears much more mature. She is aware of what she’s doing on the courtroom.”
Sakkari, who beat top-seeded Jessica Pegula on Saturday, fell to 1-7 in finals.
“I’m not going to lie,” Sakkari mentioned, wiping away tears. “It’s fairly disappointing.”
Sakkari broke to open the second set when Gauff dumped a drop shot into the online. Gauff put her arms on her head, walked to the sideline and hit her tools bag together with her racket. Quickly, it was 2-0.
However Sakkari double-faulted to get damaged to 3-all, and her groundstroke errors stored coming, too, typically adopted by a look at her coach, Tom Hill.
Gauff seen. She figured it was as a result of she stored Sakkari from preying on her forehand.
“Persistently this week, I’ve ‘overwhelmed’ that scouting report, and I feel that’s why the gamers are likely to get a little bit extra pissed off,” Gauff mentioned. “Virtually all week, each participant that I performed has been taking a look at their field, as a result of I really suppose that the plan that they’d I used to be capable of sort of fight. At the moment, she clearly had a plan, and I sort of simply made that plan fizzle out a little bit bit.”
A second later, her cellphone buzzed. It was “Bro.”