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Coco Gauff has stated that she is ready to clinch her maiden WTA 1000 title when she takes on Karolina Muchova in the 2023 Cincinnati Open final on Sunday, August 20.
Gauff has been on a dominant run at the Western & Southern Open this week. She beat the likes of Mayar Sherif, Linda Noskova, and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets to reach the semifinals, where she recorded her first career win against Iga Swiatek.
With the 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4 defeat of Swiatek, Gauff has set up a title clash with French Open finalist Karolina Muchova on Sunday. Ahead of the final, the American youngster stated that she was excited and ready to win her maiden career WTA 1000 title.
“Yeah, I'm really ready. I'm really excited. I mean any other answer is not a good answer so yeah of course I'm ready and I think I'm ready for it,” she told Tennis Channel.
Playing in her home country, Gauff also spoke about how she feeds off the crowd's energy to raise her endurance levels and keep pushing on the court.
“I feed off the crowd, to be honest. I never have problems with too much adrenaline and I think for me it's always keeping the energy up. As soon as my energy drops, it goes low,” she said.
“And I think, these matches I knew the longer it went, I felt like I was more fit out there. I knew I could last and I still had a lot left in my tank. The crowd just honestly raised that endurance level even more and I really feel like I can go back out and play again,” she added.
“The key today was definitely my serve” - Coco Gauff sheds light on her Cincinnati win against Iga Swiatek
Heading into their semifinal clash at the 2023 Cincinnati Open, Iga Swiatek led 7-0 in her head-to-head against Coco Gauff. She had won 14 straight sets and dropped none — with her most recent win coming at the French Open.
Gauff bucked the trend at the Western & Southern Open on Saturday by registering an impressive win against the World No. 1. After the match, she revealed how the key to her victory was her serve.
“I've tried my best to make as many returns as I could. And I think the key today was definitely my serve. I was going big on every serve. I told myself that from the beginning of the match, every serve trying to hit at least 110, 115. Honestly I wanted my average to be like 118, to be honest,” she explained.
Gauff's statements were backed by Swiatek, who stated in her press conference that the 19-year-old's first serve was much better and faster than usual.
"Coco, for sure she played great tennis. I got to check, but I think her first serve was better than most of the matches we played against each other, faster. She played more in, even though she's risking with that speed," Swiatek said.
