Coco Gauff's very inspired effort at the 2024 Italian Open proved not enough once more against Iga Swiatek, who beat her for the 10th time in her career.
Swiatek and Gauff have played 10 matches before their meeting in Rome, with the Polish player leading the H2H 9-1 before this meeting. Her win in Rome is the 10th time the Pole has beaten Gauff, but it took some work to get this one done.
The American was inspired in this match, and it showed in the way she approached the rallies. She was aggressive and forced a lot more power into her shots than usual.
She clearly wanted to outhit the world no. 1 from the baseline, which is basically trying to beat her at her own game. It went well for a while because the 20-year-old was up early in this match.
Swiatek fought back, and after that, it was a very balanced match. Both had great moments but also plenty of mistakes. It was just a hugely competitive match between two players who had both had a good week in Rome.
The pivotal moment in the opening set happened in the ninth game when Gauff had a 40-0 lead on her serve. A few poor rallies made it a deuce, and some nerves crept up.
She lost the game with back-to-back double faults and was very upset about that. Swiatek held comfortably to finish off the opening set, winning it 6-4.
The second set followed a similar pattern, as the start didn't unfold much differently. Both players looked comfortable, but eventually, the top seed broke for a 3-2 lead.
She then held her serve for a 4-2 lead, which would prove enough. Gauff played inspired tennis and played well but wasn't as sharp as she needed to be. The final score ended up being 6-4, 6-3 for Swiatek, who is through to yet another WTA 1000 final.
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