Coco Gauff shared her thoughts on Iga Świątek’s performance during their semifinal encounter at the Madrid Open. Gauff registered a comprehensive 6-1, 6-1 win over the Pole to book her place in the final of the WTA 1000 event.
Świątek was the defending champion in Madrid, having won the tournament last year by defeating Aryna Sabalenka in the final. It was the former World No. 1 and Gauff’s 15th meeting on the WTA Tour, and by winning this encounter, the American now trails 4-11 in the head-to-head between the two.
Coco Gauff on Defeating Iga Świątek at the Madrid Open
This year, Gauff is seeded fourth at the WTA 1000 event and kicked off her campaign with wins over Dayana Yastremska (0-6, 6-2, 7-5), Ann Li (6-2, 6-3) and Belinda Bencic (6-4, 6-2) in the second, third, and fourth rounds, respectively. In the quarterfinals, she triumphed over seventh seed Mirra Andreeva (7-5, 6-1) and then secured her place in the final by defeating second seed Świątek 6-1, 6-1.
After her victory over the World No. 2, Gauff spoke to Tennis Channel’s Prakash Amritraj and said she felt tha the Pole struggled to find a “solution” to her game during the match.
“Yeah, I did. I did maybe feel that, like, the first maybe three or four games, maybe six games of the match, I was really solid off the ground and I felt that she maybe felt like she didn’t have a solution on that day,” Coco Gauff said.
The World No. 4 also mentioned that she sensed Świątek was not performing at her best and was perhaps trying too hard to find her rhythm which ultimately impacted her chances of winning.
“And maybe she wasn’t playing her best so she was, like, trying to just get a rhythm and sometimes I do that too, when you’re not playing just try to go for some shots. But yeah I think today was just a good day in the office for me,” she added.
After Defeating Iga Świątek, Who Will Coco Gauff Face in the Madrid Open Final?
After defeating Świątek in the semifinals of the Madrid Open, Gauff is next set to face Sabalenka in the final.
Sabalenka is the top seed at the WTA 1000 event and she defeated Anna Blinkova (6-3, 6-4), Elise Mertens (3-6, 6-2, 6-1), Peyton Stearns (6-2, 6-4), Marta Kostyuk (7-6(4), 7-6(7)), and Elina Svitolina (6-3, 7-5) to secure her spot in the final.
Gauff and Sabalenka have faced each other nine times on the WTA Tour, with the American emerging victorious in five out of those encounters. Their most recent clash was in the semifinals of last year’s WTA Finals, where Gauff triumphed with a score of 7-6(4), 6-3 to reach the final, where she triumphed 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(2) over Zheng Qinwen.
