Nineteen-year-old Cori “Coco” Gauff won her first WTA 1000 title at Cincinnati on Sunday, defeating Karolina Muchova 6-3, 6-4 in the final. Gauff became the youngest woman ever to win the top-tier event and improved to 11-1 this summer as we head to the year’s final Grand Slam, the US Open. Can she win it?
The Summer Of Coco Continues
After losing in the first round of Wimbledon earlier this summer, it was starting to look bleak for the teenage phenom.
But like many elite athletes, she doubled down on work, added Brad Gilbert and Pere Riba as coaches, and she’s had the most consistent run in her young career.
Gauff won the DC Open earlier this month and didn’t drop a set. It was her first WTA 500 title and at the time her biggest. The following week she headed to Montreal for the WTA 1000 event and advanced to the quarterfinals where she lost to good friend, doubles partner, and eventual champion world No. 3 Jessica Pegula.
That loss is the only one she’s suffered since Wimbledon.
In Cincinnati she took down world No. 1 Iga Swiatek for the first-time in eight tries in a tough three-set semifinal 7-6 (7), 3-6, 6-4. The win over Muchova in the final bumped Gauff up a spot to world No. 6 and she is one of the favorites heading into the US Open.
A Great Partnership with New Coaches
The influence of her new coaches has really made a positive impact. Both Gilbert and Riba laud her maturity, talent, and commitment, and she recognizes what she has in them as well.
“Just a lot of wisdom and how to play the points, and just the mental side of the game,” Gauff said of Gilbert.
