The week in tennis: Coco Gauff hits her best stretch

It’s been an up-and-down season for Coco Gauff. After winning her first major title at the 2023 US Open, the now 20-year-old started her year by earning the trophy at Auckland and reaching the semifinals at the Australian Open but never quite found the same hot streak that highlighted her 2023.

Gauff, who won the French Open doubles title and was a flag-bearer for the United States at the Olympics, struggled during the summer and failed to defend her titles at Cincinnati and the US Open, losing in the Round of 32 and Round of 16, respectively. Following her disappointing result in New York, she parted ways with coach Brad Gilbert and brought in Matt Daly as his replacement.

Now, as the season’s end rapidly approaches, it seems as if Gauff has finally hit her stride again.

Perhaps in part buoyed by the new energy on her team, or the change of scenery during the Asian swing of the tour, Gauff won her biggest title of the season on Sunday at the 1000-level China Open behind a dominant 6-1, 6-3 victory over Karolina Muchova in the final. With 24 winners and a strong serving performance on the day — and epic points like the one below — Gauff was virtually unstoppable against the equally athletic and resurgent Muchova.

Throughout her run in Beijing, Gauff was unflappable and recorded multiple comeback victories, including against Paula Badosa in the semifinals. With the title — the eighth of her career — Gauff became the youngest champion at the event in 14 years and the first American since Serena Williams in 2013. She is now 7-1 in singles finals and became the first woman in the Open era to win her first seven hard-court finals. Gauff was unaware of that stat when asked about it by a reporter following the match but called it “pretty cool.”

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“I feel like every tournament, it’s a new stat or new record,” Gauff said. “I’m very thankful. I would be excited to see when the next stat is, the next girl, I don’t know, who will be the first person to do this since Coco Gauff. I’m excited to see that.

“It means a lot when I saw that the last American woman to win this was Serena Williams. Honestly, anytime my name is mentioned in whatever sentence hers is. It’s like a huge honor to do something no one has ever done before.”

Gauff now returns to the top five, after falling out of it after the US Open, and currently sits in the fifth spot in the race for the year-end WTA Finals. She is next in action this week at Wuhan, also a 1000-level tournament, and another title would firmly secure her ticket to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Here’s what else you might have missed last week from around the tennis world:

Alcaraz wins again

Playing the men’s final on Wednesday (and throwing off just about everyone’s internal clocks in the sport), Carlos Alcaraz defeated Jannik Sinner at the China Open. As we’ve come to expect when these players meet, it was a great battle between two of the brightest young superstars in the game with Alcaraz ultimately eking out a 6-7(6), 6-4, 7-6(3) victory in three hours and 21 minutes. It was the longest match in tournament history.

Alcaraz, who now owns a 6-4 career record over Sinner and has won all three of their meetings this season, called his rival “the best player in the world” after the match.

“He could [have won] in two, I could win in two, he could win in three,” Alcaraz said. “It was a really close match … The level that he’s playing, it’s unbelievable. It’s a really high quality of tennis. Of shots, physically, mentally, he’s a beast.”

With the win, Alcaraz returns to the No. 2 spot in the rankings, behind only Sinner. And despite the close match and their ever-evolving rivalry, the two provided the latest example of just how unique tennis is by sharing a private jet together just hours later as they made their way to Shanghai for the next tournament.

“It’s a weird thing, but I think tennis is different than other sports because of it,” Alcaraz later told Tennis TV. “Because we are fighting against each other, three-hour match, really close … At the end I got the win, and then two hours later we are in the same plane having some laughs, making jokes, talking about life and acting like nothing happened before.”

Both Alcaraz and Sinner were victorious in their opening two matches in Shanghai and are now into the Round of 16.

And prior to the China Open — which is a 500-level for men — Alcaraz and Gauff were chosen to represent the tours, visiting the Forbidden City in traditional clothing for the occasion. During the trophy ceremony on Sunday, Gauff was asked about their joint visit and the fact they had both gone on to win the titles.

“Someone in press told me that it was going to bring me luck,” Gauff said. “And I said ‘I don’t know, I don’t want to jinx it.’ Then Carlos won but at that time it was only the round of 16 for me. I guess the Imperial Palace brought us luck and maybe I will pay a visit again next year and get the same luck.”

Halep’s return

After receiving a wild card for entry at the Hong Kong 125 Open, Simona Halep notched her first victory in over two years with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 win over Arina Rodionova in the first round on Wednesday.

It marked her first match since May due to injury and just her third match since coming back from a doping ban nearly two years ago. Halep was initially given a four-year suspension after testing positive for roxadustat but it was reduced in March to nine months and she was immediately cleared to play. She made her return at the Miami Open later that month. She played in just one other event before her comeback was derailed by a knee injury.

Wednesday’s victory was an emotional one for the former world No. 1 and two-time major champion.

“Words cannot describe the feeling of being out there on court competing — and winning my first match after such a long period — in the sport I love,” she wrote on Instagram.

Halep, 33, lost her next match in straight sets to Anna Blinkova on Thursday.

Greatest introduction of all time?

After a brief tour hiatus following his third-round exit at the US Open last month, Novak Djokovic — who did help lift Serbia to victory over Greece in Davis Cup group play in the interim — returned to competition in Shanghai on Saturday.

And while the year hasn’t exactly gone to plan for the 24-time major champion, Djokovic was still given perhaps the ultimate hero’s welcome by the tournament as he was introduced to the crowd as “the greatest of all time” while taking the court for his opening match against American Alex Michelsen.

In his first match in China since 2019, the 37-year-old Djokovic was challenged by Michelsen and needed tiebreakers in both sets, but got the straight-set victory to advance. Despite the test and some rust, Djokovic was clearly thrilled by how the day transpired.

“Today on the court was marvelous,” Djokovic said later. “To experience the introduction and the support and love from Chinese fans in this way is exactly the reason why I came.”

Osaka making moves

Nearing the end of her first year back on tour following maternity leave, former No. 1 Naomi Osaka is now just outside the top 50 after a fourth-round run at the China Open. The four-time major champion, who recorded a three-set win over No. 21 seed Yulia Putinseva in the second round, looked to be on the brink of her biggest win of the season against Gauff in the Round of 16 before retiring due to a back injury ahead of the third set.

After Gauff graciously helped Osaka off the court, Osaka explained on social media that she had “locked [her] back up” in practice ahead of the match and it got progressively worse as play went on. “Totally worth it though,” she added.

While not the result she had wanted — and she has since had to withdraw from Wuhan qualifying and the upcoming Japan Open because of the injury — the China Open also marked Osaka’s first with new coach Patrick Mouratoglou. After parting ways with Wim Fissette last month, Osaka brought in Williams’ (and Halep’s) former coach and told reporters ahead of the China Open she hoped it would be a “long-term” partnership. She also admitted she was still “a little nervous around him” because of his reputation.

“I think the fact that he was Serena’s coach for me made me want to avoid him just because his persona is so big,” Osaka said. “Like, this isn’t rude because I found out it’s not true, but I didn’t know — this sounds so bad — I didn’t know if he was a good coach or he coached Serena. Does that make sense? I’m like, I’m just going to do my own thing.

“Then I met him, talked to him, worked with him on the court. He absolutely is a really good coach. I’m really glad that he’s taking this project on, as well.”

And Mouratoglou seemed pretty pleased with their debut event together, calling the experience “so rich in terms [of] learning.”

Changes for Team Iga

Osaka and Gauff aren’t the only ones shaking things up with their teams before year’s end. World No. 1 Iga Swiatek announced the end of her three-year partnership with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski on Friday.

Swiatek won four of her five major titles and took over the top ranking for the first time with Wiktorowski by her side. He was also with her during her 37-match win streak in 2022.

Swiatek thanked him for his help and guidance in an Instagram post.

“Our main goal was to become [the] No. 1 player in the world and coach Wiktorowski was the one who said it first,” she wrote. “We aimed very high, we headed to every tournament with a clear goal to win it … it happened thanks to my entire sports team.”

Swiatek, who hasn’t played since losing in the quarterfinals at the US Open early last month, added she would be spending a “couple of weeks” to find a new coach and was in talks with “coaches from abroad” as she was “ready to take the next step” in her career.

She has withdrawn from this week’s tournament in Wuhan and it is unclear when she next plans to play. She has already clinched her spot for the WTA Finals, which gets underway on Nov. 2.

Cuteness alert

If you’re looking for something to brighten your day, please watch this adorable conversation between Matteo Berrettini and the 7-year-old tasked with accompanying him onto the court ahead of his second-round match on Monday in Shanghai.

Berrettini ended up losing to Holger Rune 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, but even that shouldn’t change just how cute this encounter was.

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