Coco Gauff failed to win back-to-back matches for the 5th time in the last six events losing to Ekaterina Alexandrova at the Berlin Open.
Ekaterina Alexandrova was always a very good grass player and after triumphing at the Libema Open last week, the Russian continued playing well beating Gauff in straight sets in Berlin. The American isn't having a very good year so far even though she started it on a very high note.
Back in January, Gauff cruised in Auckland to win her first trophy of the season, and since then many expected her to follow up with some more. It's not happening as she struggled a lot since the season shifted on clay with only the Roland Garros run looking somewhat solid.
It's the only event where she managed to win back-to-back matches as all other events starting with the Miami Open finished after her 2nd match at the event. She lost to Potapova in Miami and Stuttgart. Then to Badosa in Madrid and Bouzkova in Rome. Now she lost to Alexandrova and in some ways, it wasn't particularly close.
Gauff did take an early break in this one 3-1 but the Russian completely turned things around once she settled into the match. The rallies were a major problem for Gauff as she couldn't stay with Alexandrova in the rallies. Only 26 of those were played on the serve of the Russian compared to 39 on the serve of Gauff which indicates a dose of struggle.
The American couldn't exert any pressure with her serve hitting it only 42 % of the time and that was an issue. She's far too vulnerable when she misses her first serve. It was a particular problem in the second set where she won only 1 of 8 points behind her second serve with Alexandrova going up 3-0. There are obvious problems in her game and players have known how to play against her for a while.
Things quickly went from bad to worse for Gauff who was broken for the 3rd time in the second set making it 5-0. That quickly turned to 6-0 for the Russian whose ball-striking superiority proved too much for the young American. Final score of the match was 6-4 6-0 for Alexandrova as she makes back-to-back quarter-finals on grass. She will face either Sabalenka or Kudermetova next.
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