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Coco Gauff won her second title of the year at the 2023 Citi Open on Sunday, downing Maria Sakkari in straight sets in the final. Coming into the clash with a negative head-to-head against the Greek, Gauff went through 6-2, 6-3 to win the maiden WTA 500 title of her career and fourth WTA singles trophy overall.
More than the win, it was the fact that she managed to beat the "scouting report" on her all week in Washington that made the World No. 7 most pleased. Speaking at her post-tournament press conference, the American pointed to how every player she played at the tournament had been forced to look at their box in confusion after finding out that their gameplan was not working as it should have.
The game plan in question was targetting Gauff's forehand side, which has notoriously been the biggest weakness in her game for a while now. At the 2023 Citi Open, however, the 19-year-old felt she was able to combat that effectively and surprise everyone who locked horns with her.
Coco Gauff was particularly proud with the way she did that against Sakkari in Sunday's summit clash, making the Greek's plan "fizzle out."
"Pretty clear what everybody's going to play, how everybody's going to play me on the scouting report is pretty clear. I think that consistently this week I have beaten that scouting report, and I think that's why the players tend to get a little more frustrated. Almost all week every player that I played has been looking at their box, because I truly think that the plan that they had I was able to kind of come combat that," Coco Gauff said.
"So, yeah, I think today, you know, she clearly had a plan, and I think that I kind of just made that plan fizzle out a little bit. So I think that that's the biggest thing that I have been trying to do was just trying to beat the scouting report," she added.
Before besting Maria Sakkai, Gauff prevailed over the likes of defending champion Liudmila Samsonova and Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic, both in straight sets. The World No. 7 did not lose a set all tournament and in fact wasn't even taken to a tiebreaker by any opponent in Washington.
"Everybody is trying to play the forehand, I'm not going to act like it's a secret" - Coco Gauff
Coco Gauff further admitted that it was not a secret anymore that players were targetting her forehand. Gauff added, however, that against Maria Sakkari in the Citi Open final she was staying longer in the rallies on that side -- something she could not have done in the past.
All these signs have given the World No. 7 the assurance that she has improved the technical part of her game, at least to the point that she is now stable enough to not go down without a fight against opponents coming in with a clear game plan.
"I mean, it's not a secret. Everybody is trying to play the forehand. I'm not going to act like it's a secret. Anybody who's watching the matches can see that. And I think today I was winning a lot, honestly, you know, today I was telling myself to stay in those forehand rallies with her, because I felt like I was winning a lot of them and she was trying to change and get out of them," Coco Gauff said.
"I think that's what kept me in it longer, which I feel like in the past I probably would have been, like, I need to get out of these rallies. But now I feel like I'm really stable on that side," she added.
