For the first time since January, Coco Gauff will be playing in a final, and the 2023 Citi Open final will be her first at a WTA 500 level.
Despite being an established Top 10 player in the WTA Rankings, and not leaving the elite company since she first entered it in September 2022, the 19-year-old American played only four finals on the WTA Tour in her career.
The first one came already in 2019 when she defeated Jelena Ostapenko in the Linz Open final. Two years later, the American won at Emilia-Romagna Open in Italy, and in 2022, she lost in the Roland Garros final. This year, Gauff won the 2023 ASB Classic in Auckland, and now she'll have a chance to win two titles in a season for the first time in her career.
After playing three WTA 250 finals, and one Grand Slam championship match, Gauff will now also contest her first WTA 500 final. She has a 100% success rate in WTA 250 finals, while a 0% success in major finals, so the first WTA 500 final may be an important one.
It comes after the teenager, seeded third in Washington, defeated Liudmila Samsonova from Russian in straight sets. In the opening set, Gauff's serve was working really well as she hit five aces and dominated also during the rallies.
Thanks to that, she was able to break her opponent's serve already in the second game of the match, and never face a break point throughout the first set. That's why Gauff had no problems in the first set, winning it 6-3.
The second set proved to be more challenging for the young American, as after breaking Samsonova in the third game, she had to face a total of five break points, in the fourth and sixth games of the second set.
Yet, supported by the crowd, she saved them all to win the match 6-3, 6-3 and set up a final with Maria Sakkari, who defeated Gauff's doubles partner Jessica Pegula in the first semifinal match of the day.
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