Coco Gauff explains how doubles partner Jessica Pegula ‘gave her hope’

Shahida Jacobs
Coco Gauff ecstatic
A delighted Coco Gauff celebrates her title win

Coco Gauff claimed the biggest title of her career when she won the Cincinnati Open and she feels her doubles partner Jessica Pegula played a crucial part in her success.

Teenager Gauff defeated Karolina Muchova 6-3, 6-4 to secure her maiden WTA 1000 trophy, but she feels her win was set up by her display against Iga Swiatek in the semi-final.

After losing her first seven clashes against Swiatek – including the 2022 Roland Garros final – Gauff finally got the better of the world No 1 on Saturday as she secured a sensational 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 6-4 victory.

And while defeating Muchova to win the Cincy title is a highlight, the American took a lot of confidence from her display against Swiatek the day before. That confidence, in turn, was built on Pegula’s victory over the Pole at the semi-final of the Canadian Open a week before.

“Other than the win today, it [the highlight] was definitely the win against Iga,” she told WTA Insider.

“I think that put a lot of confidence in me. Especially after the loss in Montreal, sometimes you win a title, and then you lose and you go back to your old ways. I didn’t really let that loss affect me. It made me more motivated to get better.”

Gauff herself suffered a three-set defeat at the hands of Pegula in Montreal before the world No 3 went on to stun Swiatek in the next match.

That semi-final win from Pegula gave Gauff “hope”.

She added: “Jess played an incredible match. I think that just inspired me even more. And honestly, seeing her beat Iga last week gave me some hope because I was like, I got close to beating her and I’ve beaten Jess before, so it gave me some hope that maybe this was my time.

“I’m going to try to take this level, and an even higher level into the US Open.”

The American women have dominated on North American soil this year as Gauff also won the Citi DC Open while Pegula was successful in Canada.

With Gauff also winning in Cincinnati, it is the first time that Americans have swept the Canada-Cincinnati titles as Venus and Serena Williams failed to achieve the feat during their peak.

“I’m just happy that we’re able to still hold it down. The Williams sisters carried the country for so long. Not that Jess and I are the Williams sisters (laughs), but we did one thing that they didn’t do and they did a lot of things that we’ll probably never do, but that’s okay,” Gauff joked.

“I’m really happy that we’re both doing well. That’s a cool stat to say it’s never been done before.

“I’m really happy with the way I performed in DC, even in Montreal, if I was going to have to lose to anyone, Jess is the person you would want to lose to, especially if she was going to go ahead and win the title.

“This week just beating the players that I beat – the Grand Slam finalist and Grand Slam champion this year, I’m really happy with how I am going.”

READ MORE: Coco Gauff’s new coach Brad Gilbert lauded as a ‘genius’ by former world No 1

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