Coco Gauff’s ‘accepting’ admission after double faults marr scrappy Indian Wells win
Coco Gauff admitted she was taking her opening Indian Wells win as a significant “positive” after overcoming serving woes in a scrappy contest.
World No 3 and third seed Gauff was pushed to the brink by world No 52 Moyuka Uchijima on Saturday, with the American ultimately sealing a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(4) triumph.
Despite a solid first-serve percentage of 65%, Gauff hit a staggering 21 double faults – compared to just four aces – and hit 74 unforced errors, compared to 37 winners.
However, victory for Gauff came after back-to-back opening-match defeats in Doha and Dubai, and an Australian Open quarter-final exit.
Gauff is not playing anywhere close to the level that saw her claim the China Open and WTA Finals titles towards the end of 2024, and guide USA to the United Cup title back in January.
However, after three straight losses, the 20-year-old revealed it was merely a relief to get back to winning ways.
“I think if I just double-faulted less, it could have probably been a straight-set match,” said Gauff. “Off the ground, I felt like I was dictating more of the rallies.
“But, coming off a tough couple back-to-back losses, I guess it’s just taking it more as a positive maybe than if I had a couple good weeks [in my] last two tournaments.
“The unforced errors, I had to go bigger towards the end of the match, and even in the middle, because I felt like she would dictate. It’s kind of: ‘just take your chances.’ Then doubles [double faults], I’ve been in the practice of trying to fix things on my serve.
“It was just an up-and-down process – it’s tough out there. But, if I’m able to win matches playing D tennis, then it gives me confidence just when I’m able to mesh things together like I did earlier this season.”
Up next for Gauff is 29th seed Maria Sakkari, who defeated the world No 3 in the Indian Wells semi-finals a year ago.
Gauff will head in as a significant favourite following the Greek’s struggles after that run, though will likely need to raise her game.
The 2023 US Open champion conceded that her level had been “frustrating” – but that she was trying not to worry too much about her performance on the whole.
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She added: “I think today is just one of those days you just don’t feel great on the court. So it’s frustrating in that way, because I was having such great practices this week.
“I think sometimes in sports you want to just stay on the high and kind of ride that wave, but especially with this sport, a season as long as tennis, it’s kind of impossible to always be on that high wave.
“There’s going to be some low moments, I think. I’m just trying to stick through those tough moments and get better through them.
“I feel like I’m able to turn it around. It’s happened before. I think it just takes one match or two matches to kind of get that confidence back.”
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