“It felt good,” Coco Gauff gets ‘revenge’ as she knocks out 2-time finalist Maria Sakkari from Indian Wells

Coco Gauff registered a 7-6(1), 6-2 victory over last year's finalist Maria Sakkari to inch closer to her first Indian Wells title.

“It felt good,” Coco Gauff gets ‘revenge’ as she knocks out 2-time finalist Maria Sakkari from Indian Wells

Coco Gauff, Maria Sakkari (Image via X)

Maria Sakkari was the reason behind Coco Gauff‘s elimination in last year’s Indian Wells as the latter came from a set down to beat the American to reach the final in the tournament for the second time. Gauff has now finally got her revenge.

They were pitted against each other in the third round of the ongoing Indian Wells. Even though both the players battled it out in the first set, Gauff didn’t let the Greek ace win more than two games in the second set.

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Gauff eventually won the match 7-6(1), 6-2 in an hour and 35 minutes. It was her fourth win over the 29-year-old in their nine meetings.

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Like you said, I lost to Maria last year in the semifinals, so it felt good to get revenge even though I love her.

Coco Gauff said during her on-court interview

Gauff is searching for the first title of the season and hasn’t yet reached a singles final. She has yet to win the WTA 1000 title in the California desert and produced her best when she progressed to the semifinals last year. Sakkari too never claimed the title and lost both the finals to World No.2 Iga Swiatek.

Coco Gauff admits she’s struggling to find her rhythm

Coco Gauff, after lifting the WTA Finals last year, fell to Paula Badosa in this year’s Australian Open. Then following her disappointing campaigns on the Middle East Swing, she almost registered three defeats on the trot as she was on the verge of losing to Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima in her Indian Wells opener.

Coco Gauff
Coco Gauff (Image via X)

The 20-year-old was defeated by Marta Kostyuk and McCartney Kessler in the Doha and Dubai opener. Gauff blamed the conditions of the court for her topsy-turvy third round in the third WTA 1000 tournament of the season.

It was a bit tricky conditions. I think we were both struggling a little bit with finding the rhythm, and I was just trying to stay solid on my end of the court.

Coco Gauff said at the press conference

After overcoming Uchijima 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(4), and Sakkari, Gauff reached the Indian Wells fourth round for the third time. She also became the youngest woman to advance to the Indian Wells fourth round three times in a row since Serena Williams (1999-2001).

The 2023 US Open champion’s fourth-round opponent is Belinda Bencic, who went past Diana Shnaider in the previous round. Gauff is 2-1 against the Swiss and also emerged victorious the last time they faced each other in the 2025 Australian Open fourth round.