Ex-WTA star points out major problem Coco Gauff is dealing with after defeat to Aryna Sabalenka in Madrid Open final
Coco Gauff reached her first final of the season at the Madrid Open but lost the title to Aryna Sabalenka.
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Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka (Image via X/We Are Tennis, The Tennis Letter)
The Madrid Open saw Aryna Sabalenka become a three-time champion. She beat Coco Gauff in straight sets to win her third clay-court title.
It was Sabalenka’s third title of the season. Apart from the three titles, the Belarusian also reached three more finals: at the Australian Open, Indian Wells, and the Stuttgart Open. While Sabalenka is the most successful player on the WTA tour so far in the season, the match was Gauff’s first final of the season.
She kickstarted her campaign for the 2025 season in an emphatic fashion, winning the United Cup with Team USA. After recording a 9-0 win-loss record, she lost to Paula Badosa in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, following which, she lost five tournaments on the trot without winning more than two matches. Former World No.24 Annabel Croft said that even Gauff knows that she needs to produce consistent performance.
It was much better this week, and we started to get excited again. But I think even she would say that herself, that she wants to find that level of consistency of performance. It’s not enough to have it one week here, then drop again, then maybe have a run of three bad tournaments, and then back up again. I think she would like to find that.
Annabel Croft told Sky Sports
Last year as well, Gauff was inconsistent. After winning the ASB Classic, the American lifted her second title of the season at the China Open. After losing the Wuhan Open semifinals to eventual winner Aryna Sabalenka, Gauff became a champion at the WTA Finals for the first time.
Sabalenka tied the head-to-head record to 5-5 with Gauff after her Madrid Open victory. Prior to her triumph over Gauff, the 27-year-old lifted the Madrid Open in 2021 and 2023 by beating Ash Barty and Iga Swiatek, respectively. Sabalenka has also become only the second woman after 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena Williams to take home the Miami Open and the Madrid Open the same season.
Coco Gauff makes a bold prediction about her rivalry with Iga Swiatek
Prior to reaching the Madrid Open final, Coco Gauff denied Iga Swiatek a chance to defend the title by breezing past her in the semifinals. It was their 15th encounter on the tour and the victory was Gauff’s fourth one over the 23-year-old. The 2023 US Open has made a bold prediction about her rivalry with the five-time Grand Slam champion.
I cannot believe Iga and I played each other this many times. I’m 21, she’s 23, we’re so young and we both at least have, like, 10 more years in this game. I feel like we’re going to end up having the record for most times playing against each other ever in tennis history.
Coco Gauff told reporters in Madrid
It was their second meeting this season following the final of the United Cup which Gauff had won. Swiatek, last year, lifted five titles, three of which she captured on clay. The last title she won was the French Open and since then she failed to reach a final.
Had Switak won the semifinal, she would have scheduled a third consecutive Madrid Open final clash with Aryna Sabalenka. Gauff would have started the new week as a No.2 player by removing Swiatek from the position had she lifted her first title in the Spanish capital.
She is the winner of just one clay-court title she lifted at the 2021 Emilia-Romagna Open. Her match against Sabalenka was her first final on the red dirt since the 2022 French Open which she lost to Swiatek.
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