Coco Gauff
joined an exclusive club with a 6-2, 6-4 romp against Jessica Pegula
in the final of the Cincinnati Open on Sunday.
By winning the first all-American final in the Queen City in 1970, Gauff didn’t just win her first title of the year on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz. She also joined Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka as two-time champions at the WTA 1000 tournament. Gauff previously won the title in 2023, the year she went on to win her first Grand Slam title at the US Open.
Her performance throughout the week was worthy of such rarified air. After losing the first set of her opening match against Liudmila Samsonova
, Gauff won the next 12. In them, she lost just 32 games.
Speaking to reporters after the match, Gauff stopped short of saying that a dominant stretch in Cincinnati would translate to running the table in New York again. But she said that the confidence gained would serve her well.
“I think with each match, I was feeling more and more confident in trusting the work that I put in and the practice,” she said.
“Knowing that I can figure out these matches, and it’s going to be tough in New York, but just knowing the quality wins that I had this week, knowing that I’m able to figure it out even if I’m not playing my best, but also knowing that I can play that great tennis that I felt like I was playing this week.”
In a 1 hour and 14-minute final, the trend continued as Gauff never trailed. She opened up a 5-0 lead in less than a half hour on court, and things only got complicated when she was already ahead 6-2, 5-2. She failed to serve out the match in the eighth game of the second set, but broke Pegula at love to finish the match.
In her runner-up speech, Pegula called Gauff “like a backboard today.”
“It was not fun to play against,” she joked. “I didn’t even think I played bad.”
Gauff’s final line agreed with Pegula’s assessment. She won 65% of points on the first serve (to Pegula’s 47%) and converted five of six break points. She was a constant presence in Pegula’s service games — winning 32 points — as she herself was only taken to deuce once.
“I think it was a long journey, but I’m happy,” Gauff said. “I think it’s night and day, the player I was last year to now. I don’t think that this is an indicator that I’m going to do well in New York. Just knowing the quality ones that I had this week, hopefully I can use that experience.”
