‘I’m Coco Gauff and I can do it’ – Gauff reveals how pep talk inspired first-ever win over Iga Swiatek

Shahida Jacobs
A delighted Coco Gauff
Coco Gauff reaction during a match

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again was very much the motto for Coco Gauff ahead of her clash against Iga Swiatek and all the hard finally paid off as she defeated the world No 1 in the semi-final of the Cincinnati Open.

Gauff had not only lost her previous seven encounters – including last year’s French Open final – against Swiatek, she also failed to take a single set off the Pole.

However, things were different during their semi-final showdown in Ohio, Mason, on Saturday as the 19-year-old claimed a 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 6-4 victory over the four-time Grand Slam winner to reach her maiden WTA 1000 final.

“I knew playing her was going to be tough,” Gauff said after the match that lasted just under three hours. “I really took my opportunities when I got them and I really just fought every point.

“I was a little bit negative in the second but I got it back and I was telling myself, ‘You’re a warrior and you can do this.'”

The teenager must have thought “here we go again” when Swiatek broke in game six of the opening set, but she hit back immediately only for the top seed to again break. However, Gauff got back on terms and then dominated the tie-breaker.

The negativity she was referring to set in at the start of the second set as Swiatek broke in game three and she never relinquished that advantage. A second break to love in game nine took the match to a decider.

Both were solid on serve and the break eventually came the American’s way as she edged ahead in game seven. Swiatek then had a break point in game eight, but Gauff held firm.

The seventh seed then had her first two match points saved and Swiatek had another break point, but Gauff held firm again before finally sealing her first win over the Pole on her fourth match point.

“I tried to serve as hard as I could on the match points,” Gauff said. “She is No 1 in the world – you have to focus on your end of the court.”

She added: “I’ve been working hard and I guess it’s paying off right now. I told myself I can let this crush me or make me rise and I decided to make myself rise. It just shows I can do it.”

“I was just saying, ‘I’m Coco Gauff and I can do it,’. Playing her, you have to give it your all and I felt it from the moment I stepped onto the court, that I wasn’t going to lose this match today even when the moments got tough.”

Gauff will face either second seed Aryna Sabalenka or Roland Garros runner-up Karolina Muchova in the final.

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

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