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Coco Gauff’s Cincinnati deja vu: Same springboard, another US Open dream
Coco Gauff returns to New York with a chance to repeat the biggest achievement of her career, and hopes the stars align once again.
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In 2023, Coco Gauff won the Cincinnati title, and then went on to win the US Open. Three years hence, she has now done the first part again.
Gauff beat compatriot Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-4 to win Cincinnati, her first title of the season. She now returns to New York with a chance to repeat the biggest achievement of her career, and hopes the stars align once again.
Gauff knows the parallel. She has been told countless times now in media interactions.
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“Cincinnati is such a special tournament. Being able to do that again is super cool,” Gauff said in an interview shared exclusively with Hindustan Times by JioStar. “And coming into New York with some wins under my belt, I think means a lot.”
The win in Ohio has certainly boosted her morale in an otherwise season of near misses.
Prior to Cincinnati, Gauff warmed up for the North American hardcourt swing with a semi-final run in Toronto, which was preceded by her best-ever showing at Wimbledon, where she also reached the semi-finals. Earlier in the season, she had reached the finals in Miami and Rome. Sandwiched in between, however, was her tough and forgettable campaign at Roland Garros, where she failed to defend her title after a shock third-round exit.
Despite the heartbreak, Gauff refused to let one bad tournament define her 2026 season. Her response since then has shown exactly why.
“Tennis is such an up-and-down sport,” she said. “Even though the downs are painful, you just try not to sit into it for so long.”
And that has been the difference between the Gauff of 2023 and the one returning to the US Open this time.
“One bad tournament is not the story of the whole season,” she said. “I'm glad I was able to have that experience at Wimbledon.”
With a sense of greater composure in her tone, the two-time Grand Slam winner admitted she now has the comfort of knowing she has already done what she is trying to do again. That has subsequently reduced the weight she puts on herself.
“I had confidence then, but you never did something before,” she said, reflecting on her 2023 title. “So just knowing I'm capable of accomplishing that.
“I think that's just the difference, maybe a little bit more confidence and less pressure on myself,” Gauff added.
The other reason behind her confidence is the change she brought to her game after welcoming biomechanics specialist Gavin MacMillan onto her team last year to help address issues with her serve.
In 2024, Gauff hit a tour-high 430 double faults, 60 more than the next player on the list. The number was almost identical in 2025 at 431, this time 131 more than the next player. Late that year, she reached out to MacMillan, who had worked with Aryna Sabalenka on her serve.
Under MacMillan, the issue has not disappeared completely. Gauff still leads the tour in double faults this season. But the double faults are no longer arriving in the same clusters, while Gauff has also found greater variety and aggression on her serve. And the numbers at Cincinnati offered a striking example. In 2025, Gauff hit 23 double faults in a second-round match in Montreal. This time in Cincinnati, en route to the title, she hit 23 across the entire tournament, and just three across her final two matches.
That evolution will matter in New York where Gauff will again have the home crowd on her side.
“Playing in Ashe at night is a unique one-of-one experience,” she said. “I hope to experience it a few more times.”
The American crowd, she added, gives her “that extra boost, extra motivation” to leave the court feeling proud.
Gauff among the favourites
That run in Cincinnati, along with her deep run in Toronto, has made the American one of the leading contenders in the women's singles draw, especially with the field opening up.
Aryna Sabalenka has struggled for consistency, Elena Rybakina has had fitness concerns and Iga Swiatek's form has fluctuated.
The draw also offers Gauff a manageable route. She will start her campaign against Zeynep Sönmez and could face a tricky test against Sara Bejlek in the third round, after beating the Czech in the Cincinnati semi-finals. Alex Eala or Iva Jovic could await in the fourth round, before a potential quarter-final against Mirra Andreeva or Amanda Anisimova.
There is danger in every section. Bejlek was one of the stories of Cincinnati, Eala has already won her first WTA 500 title this season, while Jovic is another rising American. Andreeva and Anisimova bring their own Grand Slam pedigree.
But Gauff has been playing top-flight tennis for months now, and she will have everyone in Arthur Ashe Stadium behind her. It has worked before.
With a trophy under her belt, Gauff is tuning out criticism and riding a wave of momentum into New York, where she won her first Grand Slam title in 2023.
“It's just about the stars aligning and the work and sometimes luck and feeling all aligning to one,” Gauff said.
The stars aligned once in 2023. And Gauff has every right to believe they can again in 2026.
