Coco Gauff emphatically defeated Iga Swiatek for the first time on clay, 6-1, 6-1 Thursday to advance to the Mutua Madrid Open final.
It was over in an astonishing 64 minutes and constituted a thoroughly complete breakthrough victory for the 21-year-old American who has now beaten Swiatek three straight times. At one time, Swiatek led the head-to-head 11-1 — and Gauff is the player she’s beaten the most in her career.
Gauff was very nearly flawless. After Swiatek won the match’s opening game, Gauff reeled off an incredible 11 straight games, winning 12 of the last 13.
Gauff lost only two points on her first serve and finished with six aces. She won 57 of 83 points and didn’t face a break point. Gauff finished with 18 winners and only four unforced errors. Swiatek was credited with seven winners and 21 unforced errors.
“Obviously she wasn’t maybe playing her best tennis, but I think I made her uncomfortable,” Gauff told reporters later. “She is very talented and can make you run and move you around the court. And I just tried to not do that today.”
“I think the mentality that I had the whole match,” Gauff said in her on-court interview. “I was aggressive and played with margin. Maybe it wasn’t her best level.
“For me, it was just making sure my level stayed the same. In the second, I raised it.”
The last time Swiatek dropped two or fewer games on any surface came in a 6-0, 6-2 Round-of-32 loss to Jelena Ostapenko in Birmingham.
Coco Gauff (21 years and 39 days) is now the third-youngest player to reach WTA-1000 finals on both clay and hard court, after Caroline Wozniacki and her opponent, Iga Swiatek.
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