Coco Gauff has made a good account of herself at this year’s Miami Open so far.
With two comfortable victories, the latest being a 6-2 6-4 victory over Maria Sakkari on Saturday, the American has kept critics quiet in recent days.
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In what has been a disappointing run of results in 2025 for Gauff, the Miami Open has come at the perfect time for the 21-year-old.
This is her home tournament and so far she has displayed her best tennis for a while in front of crowds who have always backed her.
Her first victory in Miami was that demolition of Sofia Kenin, a 6-0, 6-0 win in 47 minutes.
While her win over Sakkari, provided much more resistance, Gauff made it back-to-back wins over the Greek, after also beating her at Indian Wells just a few weeks prior.
“I knew it wasn’t going to go as smoothly,” Gauff said about her match with Sakkari and putting the Kenin match to one side.
“I didn’t want to think about it because this is a one-every-couple-years type occurrence. I was just trying to put that match in the past and focus on today.”
With the head-to-head record between the pair now at 5-5, Gauff is starting to get the better of Sakkari, who has proved a thorn in the past.
“I think it was just one of those things that you would like to play the exact same way so you can replicate the same result,” Gauff said.
“But you know any smart person isn’t going to play you the exact same way as they did two weeks ago after a loss. And she didn’t. She played different.
“I do think she played better today. I also think I played better than Indian Wells, so I think that was the difference.”
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For Sakkari, this loss adds to what has become a long list of disappointments in recent weeks.
The 29-year-old was a top ten player as recently as last September but is now No.51 in the rankings.
She has yet to win back-to-back games since the Olympics last summer and on hard-courts hasn’t done so since the Miami Open last year.
While Gauff, who recently turned 21, is now the youngest player to reach back-to-back Rounds of 16 at the Miami Open since Garbine Muguruza in 2012-2013.
The 2023 US Open champion also became the youngest player to secure 75 main draw wins in WTA-1000 events since the format’s introduction in 2009
The win also now takes her to 58 hard-court wins in WTA-1000 events the most of any player before turning 22
Gauff will play Magda Linette, who held off qualifier Linda Fruhvirtova, in her next match on Monday.
