August 7, 2023 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Photo Credit: Garrett Ellwood/USTA
Coco Gauff earned the first WTA 500 title of her career on Sunday as the American teenager defeated Maria Sakkari 6-2, 6-3 to lift the trophy at the Mubadala Citi D.C. Open.
Gauff was the more consistent player on Sunday and raced out to an early 3-0 lead in the opening set to seize control. Sakkari responded by trimming that gap to 2-3, but Gauff responded by winning the next four games to capture the first set.
In the second, Sakkari broke Gauff early but was never able to find her footing on serve, as Gauff continued to set up break point chances, as she broke six times total in the match, and was able to come through in straight sets.
Gauff did not drop a set throughout the tournament and in doing so became the youngest champion in the history of the event. She gave a lot of credit to her new coaching team, which has added Pere Riba and Brad Gilbert.
“It’s our first tournament as a full team,” Gauff said on court. “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.”
Gauff remains at No. 7 in the WTA Rankings, and will head to Toronto this week to compete in the Omnium Banque Nationale.
