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World No. 6 Coco Gauff was left a little conflicted after signing autographs at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
The 18-year-old booked her place in the semifinals of the WTA 1000 event by beating fellow American Madison Keys 6-2, 7-5. Gauff started the match strongly and won the opening set 6-2 but Keys showed some resistance in the second set as the scores were tied at 5-5.
Gauff then made the decisive break before holding her serve to win the match.
Following her win, Gauff signed autographs for her fans and one of them gave her a designer hat to sign. The teenager seemed a little reluctant to sign it and asked the fan if he wanted to have such a good hat signed.
"Are you sure you want this nice hat signed," Gauff said.
The WTA shared a video of the incident on social media, which Gauff later reshared by stating that she ruined a Gucci hat.
"Pretty sure I ruined a Gucci hat today," the 18-year-old stated.
After beating Keys, Gauff will next take on World No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships. It will be the sixth encounter between the two, with the Pole leading 5-0 in the head-to-head.
Swiatek reached the final four in Dubai after her quarterfinal opponent Karolina Pliskova was forced to withdraw due to illness.
"It's going to be a challenge"- Coco Gauff on her semifinal against Iga Swiatek
During her post-match press conference, when asked about her semifinal against Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff stated that facing the World No. 1 was going to be a challenge and it was a good match to improve her own skills.
The 18-year-old also claimed that she has to enter the match believing she could win, despite what the odds suggested.
"I mean, no pressure. She's playing at the top of her game. Well, I don't know, because last year we said the same thing. She's playing really well. I don't think she's gotten the five since someone got the five since Rybakina at Australian Open," Coco Gauff said.
"It's going to be a challenge. But, to be honest, I think it's a good matchup just to see where I can maybe improve on. You know, there's no pressure for me. I'm just going to go out there swinging. Whatever happens happens. You just kind of have to go in believing you can win even when the odds seem stacked against you," she added.
The winner of the match between Swiatek and Gauff will face either third seed Jessica Pegula or Barbora Krejcikova in the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
