19-Year-Old Coco Gauff Wins Biggest Title Of Career At Sunday’s Cincinnati Open

Coco Gauff continued her hardcourt run defeating Karolina Muchova in straight sets (6-3 6-4) to take home the biggest title of her career at the Cincinnati Open Sunday, setting herself up for a run at the U.S. Open title.

The teenager, seeded seventh at her first WTA 1000 Final appearance, used a confident serve and solid return game to break Muchova three times in the first set. Muchova couldn’t bounce back and was doomed by inconsistent play and 35 unforced errors on a hot day.

Muchova did show some fight as it took Gauff three match points before she finally put the match away, leading to Gauff jumping up and down in excitement before hoisting the trophy. With the win, Gauff moves to 11-1 since getting knocked out of the first round of Wimbledon last month.

Her hardcourt play this summer has set Gauff up to make a run at the U.S. Open, which begins Aug. 28 and runs through Sept. 10. If Gauff brings home the title, she would become the first Black woman to win it since Naomi Osaka in 2020.

Gauff has been dominant on the hard court this summer, winning the Citi Open in Washington D.C. and reaching the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open.

Gauff burst on to the tennis scene in 2019 when she became the youngest player to reach the main draw at Wimbledon at 15 years and 3 months old. In her 2019 Wimbledon debut, Gauff defeated five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in straight sets, and made it into the fourth round before losing to eventual champion Simona Halep.

Last year, the teen reached her first major first singles championship match at the French Open, notching six wins before losing to Iga Świątek.

The U.S. Open, held in Queens, NY, is the last Grand Slam final of the WTA season. Last year, the tournament was a star-studded event as Serena Williams announced it would be her last tournament.