US 17-year-old star Coco Gauff cruised past Wang Qiang 6-1 6-3 after 1 hour and 14 minutes to claim the second WTA title of her year at the Emilia Romagna Open in Parma.
Gauff continued her good period of form one week after reaching the semifinal at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome. She beat Aryna Sabalenka in the Rome quarter finals before losing to Iga Swiatek in the semifinal. This week she dropped just one set en route to ther second title in Parma. Before this week she won the Linz title in 2019 as a lucky loser.
Gauff saved each of the four break points she faced.
Gauff went up a 3-0 lead with a break in the second game. Wang rallied from 0-30 down in the fourth game at deuce. Gauff raced out to a 5-1 lead with a double break, but she faced a double break point, as she was serving for the set at 5-1. Gauff saved a third break point in the seventh game before sealing the opening set with service winner.
Gauff saved a break point with a backhand winner down the line and held serve to draw level to 2-2. Gauff broke serve in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. The US teenager hit a series of groundstrokes to open up a 5-3. She forced an error with her backhand to seal the second set with her second break.
Gauff has won 20 of her last 26 matches on tour and is currently ranked world number 30.
“It definitely means a lot, especially on clay, which is not really a surface I feel like people associate with me. I always liked clay, but I always fall on it. I always get dirty. I have good results on it, so it’s not about my performance. It’s just that clay shows you a little extra love than the other surfaces. I think I did well in engaging every point and pushing Wang back. I know she normally likes to be aggressive. One of the main goals was just to be able to push her back and set up the shots I like to hit”, said Gauff.
Gauff teamed up with Cathy McNally to take a 6-3 6-2 win over Darija Jurak and Andreja Klepac with six breaks of serve in the doubles final. Gauff has become the youngest player to win the singles and the doubles titles in the same tournament since Maria Sharapova in Birmingham in 2004.
