Coco Gauff’s biggest title yet in Cincinnati was four years in the making

Kevin Palmer 20 Aug 2023 10:59 PM

Coco Gauff wins in Cincinnati

In many ways, Coco Gauff’s win in Cincinnati has been four years in the making and now the American prodigy finally seems ready to realise her dreams.

Gauff claimed her third tournament win of the season and the biggest victory of her career with a thrilling triumph over Karolina Muchova in the Southern and Western Open final, as the 19-year-old confirmed she has what it takes to win in the game’s biggest events.

The seventh-seeded American teenager produced a strong performance to see off Muchova 6-3 6-4 in one hour and 56 minutes in Cincinnati.

And finally, she is a winner in one of the game’s marquee events after so many near misses.

Gauff’s breakthrough win against her idol Venus Williams at Wimbledon when she was just 15-years-old set the wheels in motion on a hype machine that has barely dropped in volume since.

Yet instead of becoming the winning machine Gauff’s sponsors and the WTA Tour hoped she would become, it has been a slow ride to the top for this engaging young champion.

Muchova showed her battling qualities in the second set as she saved three match points when trailing 5-2 and pulled one break back, but Gauff was not to be denied as she triumphed in front of an adoring American crowd.

The victory will ensure Gauff climbs to number six in the WTA rankings on Monday while Czech Muchova can console herself with a spot in the top 10.

“This is unbelievable,” said Gauff. “I’d like to thank my lord and savior Jesus Christ. I spent a lot of nights alone crying trying to figure it out. I still have a lot to figure out, but I thank him for covering me.”

Gauff has been one of the WTA Tour’s biggest superstars since that breakthrough win on Wimbledon’s Centre Court in 2019, but there have been moments when it felt as if the pressure to live up to her billing was too much for her to handle.

A run to last year’s French Open final took her to within touching distance of her first Grand Slam title, but now she appears to be maturing into a contender ahead of the US Open.

After her magical win against world No 1 Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals in Cincinnati, Gauff backed it up with victory in the championship match and Muchova’s post-match comments highlighted the respect she had for her opponent.

With Coco Gauff winning #CincyTennis and Jessica Pegula winning #OBN23, this is the first time since Cincinnati returned to the calendar in 2004 that Americans have swept Cincy and Canada. pic.twitter.com/X1uD7Sh2vH

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) August 20, 2023

“When I woke up this morning, the first thing I was like ‘Ouch’. I knew it was going to be a very tough task today to win, especially against someone like Coco,” Muchova said.

“I would like to congratulate you. To your team as well. You’ve had an incredible run these weeks and this year, and more important your game is very strong so congratulations for that.”

Is this win in Cincinnati the beginning of something big for Gauff?

She has ticked off a WTA 1000 title win from her list of ambitions and next up has to be the Grand Slam at the US Open.

If she achieves that aim, Gauff will finally be able to claim the crown as the next big star of the women’s game.