It was the shakeup that Coco Gauff needed.
After a first-round loss at Wimbledon — the place where she burst like a supernova onto the tennis scene as a 15-year-old in 2019 — the seventh-ranked player in the world was distraught.
She took a month to gather herself and reshuffle some things, adding coach Pere Riba and legendary tennis mind Brad Gilbert to her corner before picking up her racket again in Washington last week.
The moves paid off with the biggest win of her career.
The 19-year-old American beat Maria Sakkari of Greece, 6-2, 6-3, to win the D.C. Open on Sunday for the fourth championship of her career and first WTA 500-level title.
“Almost all week every player that I played has been looking at their box, because I truly think that the plan that they had I was able to kind of come combat that,” Gauff said. “So yeah, I think today she clearly had a plan, and I think that I kind of just made that plan fizzle out a little bit.”
Gauff beat three different top 20 opponents — No. 15 Belinda Bencic, defending champion and No. 18 Liudmila Samsonova and No. 9 Sakkari — on the path to becoming the youngest winner in tournament history and adding to her 2019 D.C. doubles title.
“I think the caliber of players I have beat this week was probably the strongest out of all of the tournaments I’ve played,” Gauff said.
Gauff has received plenty of superlatives in these early stages of her career — joking that one was “the youngest person to, like, hit an ace in 73-degree weather.”
Her Washington achievement will be held in higher regard.
“I actually like hearing this one, like, being the youngest to win this tournament is pretty cool,” Gauff said. “I mean, I’m looking at the names on that [stadium] wall, and one of my main motivations was really to be on that wall, so I’m really happy that it will remain here for as long as the tournament stays here, hopefully forever.”
The win is only Gauff’s second against the Greek native in six tries. Sakkari — who also lost in the first round at Wimbledon — played in her first final of 2023 after seven semifinal appearances this year.
“Obviously I’m disappointed, I’m not gonna lie, she played good, and I didn’t bring my best tennis on the court today. But at the same time, I have to give credit to her,” Sakkari said. “A month ago when I lost that first round at Wimbledon, I never thought that I would be playing a final that soon and beating very good players.”
On the warmest day of the tournament, the matchup of top-ranked women delivered, with a display of two players about as evenly matched as one can witness. The two kept balls inside the baselines, with any misses primarily wide or into the net.
The fourth-seeded Sakkari, who was so dominant on serve in her semifinal win over No. 1 seed Jessica Pegula on Saturday, was neutralized by Gauff’s return game. Sakkari won only 10 of her 26 points on serve in the first set (38.5%) and was broken three times, including on a double fault in her first service game. Though broken once, Gauff hit five aces in the set to Sakkari’s one, and won 76.9% of her first serve points.
“Would I say I’m completely satisfied with how I’m playing? I mean, yes, in a way, but also no,” Gauff said. “Because I feel like I can always get better. Even in the serve, I served a lot better this week. It got me out of some crazy moments, but I do think that it can still improve.”
In the first game of the second set, Sakkari was able to initially stem the tide. At break point, she took Gauff’s serve early, eventually forcing Gauff to try a drop shot with not enough juice. It caught the net, giving Sakkari the first break.
The two would proceed to feverishly exchange breaks: Gauff came back to level the set at 2-all, Sakkari would then win a long rally to go up 3-2, before giving the advantage right back on a double fault in the next game.
Back on serve at 3-4, Sakkari won the first point, then double-faulted twice, her fourth and fifth of the day. It was an unfortunate microcosm of her day — after winning 64.6% of her service points against Pegula, Gauff cut that number nearly in half, 39.6%.
“It was obvious I didn’t serve well. I think my ball was just way too low,” Sakkari said. “That’s something that I have been working with [my coach] lately that I need to toss the ball higher in order for me to get my serve, actually to have an accurate serve.
“I think that fatigue played a role and also nerves. The lower I toss the ball, the worse my serve is. I know that in order for me to serve well, I have been feeling lately I need to toss that ball higher.”
With the crowd behind her throughout, Gauff took her third break of Sakkari in the set and sixth of the match before serving out for her second title of the year.
“I’m not going to sit here and act like this is the best tennis I can play. I do think that I can get better,” she said.
The men’s final also featured a first-time 500-level champion, though it took decidedly longer to reach a result.
Great Britain’s Dan Evans notched the biggest victory of his career, with the nine-seed winning in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3, over 12th-seeded Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor
Their time on court - 1:41 - was exceeded by their time off the court thanks to lightning and a drenching evening rainstorm that caused a two-hour plus delay after the second game of the second set. For Evans, the match finished just in time as the skies opened up again as he received his trophy.
“Very strange week. You know, we missed one day of tennis and played two matches on one day, so the weather now sort of sums up the week for me,” Evans said. “But it’s nice to win any tournament, but especially here. I have come here a lot of times, and it’s an amazing week. I’m delighted.”
Evans’ win vaults him nine spots higher to No. 21 in the world rankings. At 33, he’s the oldest man to win the Washington title since a 36-year-old Jimmy Connors did so in 1988.
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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