Iga Swiatek bested Coco Gauff in two sets at the 2024 Italian Open, but the American is adamant that the scoreline doesn't paint the right picture.
The final score in that match was 6-4, 6-3 for Swiatek, so it certainly wasn't a thrashing that Gauff got a few times from the Polish player. It was quite a competitive match, but even this score doesn't paint how competitive it was overall.
The 20-year-old was up a break early in the opening set but lost it a few games later. The way she lost the first set was really crazy because she got broken at 4-4 in the first set.
In that ninth game, the 2023 US Open winner was up 40-0 on her serve but failed to serve it out. On deuce, the American started to feel the pressure a little bit and committed back-to-back double faults to drop her serve.
That could have easily gone differently. Her frustration kept rising in the second set, but she still had some chances, which she didn't use. Ultimately, she's right. The match nearly went quite differently, and the score doesn't paint that clearly.
"I think the way that I lost today, it wasn't because a wing or a shot broke down, it's because she was the better player today. If I lose matches like that, we go back and we practice."
Gauff will now try to find something more in the coming 10 days before the Roland Garros kicks off. She's certainly going to be among the favorites to win the major, especially at this level.
"I think going into Roland Garros, like if you asked me pretournament and now, I feel like I'm a different player in terms of just how I've been playing. I think it really turned around in the Badosa match, then pushed through the Qinwen, and then today was a 4-3 loss. I feel like the scoreline doesn't show how competitive it was. It was almost two hours at 6-4, 6-3."