Coco Gauff Wins Western & Southern Open, First Masters 1000 Title

No. 7 Coco Gauff defeated No. 17 Karolina Muchova 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the Western & Southern Open to win her second hard-court title of the summer and third of the season. Gauff, 19, is the youngest champion in the tournament’s history.

Gauff earned her first Masters 1000 title when Muchova sailed a forehand return wide on Gauff’s fourth match point. The American launched her racket in the air and jumped up and down with delight after toughing out a 1-hour and 56-minute match played in temperatures close to 90 degrees.

Cincinnati is Gauff’s fifth career WTA title and after finally attaining her first win against the world No 1 Iga Swiatek in the semi-final on Saturday, this is the No. 7 seed’s first WTA 1000 title. With so much debate and criticism throughout her career about her progress, potential and forehand, the victory shows the 19-year-old’s progression.

Having won Auckland in January and Washington D.C. two weeks ago, Gauff is now the first teenager to win three titles in a season since Bianca Andreescu in 2019. She is also the first teenager to win five career titles since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009.

Since the tournament was relaunched in 2004, Gauff is the fourth American champion in Cincinnati, along with Lindsay Davenport, Serena Williams, and Madison Keys. She will gain one spot in the WTA rankings to No. 6 come Monday.

“I’m really happy with how I was able to manage this week,” Gauff said. “I got a huge win yesterday, a big one today. Karolina, she’s not an easy player. It’s really good to see her back at the top. I think she’s one of the most talented players on tour.”

Since losing in the first round of Wimbledon, Gauff is now 11-1 in her last 12 matches, picking up two of the biggest titles of her career during that stretch.

In the beginning of the match, both players were cautious, being aware of the opportunity before them. Their nerves were on full display with a mixed bag of breaks and unforced errors. Despite struggling early on with her serve, Gauff showed the dynamic range of her abilities. Boasting her superior movement and defense making it next to impossible for Muchova to consistently hit through the court.

Against one of the most versatile players on the tour, Gauff demonstrated her own willingness to adapt and problem solve. She was able to effortlessly neutralize the mixture of pace, drop shots and slices thrown at her by the Czech.

With steady work from the baseline, Gauff held Muchova to four winners in the opening set. This compounded to 13 unforced errors.

After a spotty first set that featured a combined five service breaks, including Gauff’s double fault on one game point, Gauff gained control over Muchova with a break in the eighth game. Gauff ended a run of three consecutive breaks by confidently serving out the set. 

In the second set, she fought off two break points in the fourth game. She took control with a break in the next when Muchova hit a backhand wide. While winning the next game, Gauff caught a break with a winner off the net. She missed on three match points in the eighth game before closing it out.

“This is unbelievable,” Gauff said during the post-match trophy presentation. “I’m just happy to be here for this moment.

“When I woke up this morning, the first thing I said was ‘Ouch,’” the 26-year-old Muchova said. “I knew it was going to be a tough task to win, especially against someone like Coco.”

The French Open runner-up will celebrate her birthday on Monday by going up to No. 10 on the WTA rankings.

Muchova came into her first WTA 1000 final, having spent over 10 hours on the court. All her completed matches went a full three sets during the week. After a two-and-a-half-hour effort to upset No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals, the 26-year-old struggled with Gauff’s energy. 

“I was a little tired coming into the match,” Muchova said. “I knew I have to play fast today, not be in the rallies, because it’s been many three-setters here for me, long matches, tough matches. To play day after day and not have the day off, it’s very physical. In that, I was the worse one today.”

“Today I really won it off of breaking serve, to be honest,” Gauff said. “I wasn’t really serving as good as I did against Iga. Don’t know if it was nerves. I wasn’t that nervous, to be honest. Also a combination of the long match yesterday. I wasn’t serving as well.

“I think that’s what makes a champion, is how you’re doing on the days you aren’t feeling so great. I’m glad I was able to push through.”