Coco Gauff said Iga Swiatek played “more and consistently aggressive” in their Beijing match and that was one of the differences compared to their Cincinnati match. In August, 19-year-old Gauff finally clinched her first win over Swiatek when she beat the Pole 7-6 (2) 3-6 6-4 in the Cincinnati semifinal. This past weekend, Swiatek got her revenge as she ousted Gauff 6-2 6-3 in the Beijing semifinal. During the match, Gauff was evidently struggling with a shoulder issue and she required a medical time-out. After the match, Gauff was asked what was different this time compared to their Cincinnati match.
Gauff: Swiatek played more aggressive this time
“I think she played a little bit more aggressive or, like, consistently aggressive compared to Cincinnati. I think Cincinnati I got a little bit more errors than today. Honestly, like, it’s tough for me to assess the match right now because my mind was just not 100% in it. I feel like I need to watch it and really know what’s going on. Usually I’m able to assess the matches right away, what I did right, what I did wrong. I think my focus, a lot of it, was just on what I was feeling, not more so what she was doing or what I was doing. I was just trying my best to get as many points as I could. I had the feeling when I called the physio it was going to be a tough match for me to try to be able to win,” Gauff said.Â
Coco Gauff© Getty Images Sport – Yanshan Zhang
Â
After Beijing, Gauff was scheduled to compete at this week’s WTA 500 event in Zhengzhou. But after being hampered by a shoulder injury during a semifinal loss in Beijing, Gauff decided to skip Zhengzhou. Now, Gauff’s focus turns to the WTA Finals. Between October 29 – November 05, the WTA Finals will be taking place in Cancun and Gauff will be making her second consecutive appearance at the tournament.