Washington (USA), Aug 6 No.3 seed Coco Gauff booked a spot in her second final of the year at the Washington Open, toppling No.8 seed and defending champion Liudmila Samsonova 6-3, 6-3 in their semifinal showdown, here.
World No.7 Gauff continued her superb run this week with the 1-hour and 42-minute win over 18th-ranked Samsonova on Saturday -- her 20th career victory over a Top 20 player. Gauff has only lost a total of 14 games in her three wins this week.
"I'm super happy with how I played today. Playing the defending champion is never easy. She's a player that goes really hard on every ball," Gauff said after her win.
The 19-year-old is now one victory away from her fourth career WTA Tour singles title, and her second of the year. Gauff picked up a title in Auckland in the first week of the 2023 season.
Earlier this week, Gauff became just the third player to reach the Washington Open semifinals as a teenager, joining Sloane Stephens in 2012 and Caty McNally in 2019. However, by going one step further, Gauff became the first teenager to reach the final of this event.
In Sunday’s final, Gauff will square off against No.4 seed Maria Sakkari for the first time this year. No.4 seed Sakkari battled into her first singles final of the year with a topsy-turvy 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 victory over No.1 seed Jessica Pegula.
The Greece player needed just over two hours to outlast top seed Pegula, the 2019 Washington champion and highest-ranked American.
"I was playing really good back home, but I didn't expect to make the final here," Sakkari said in her post-match press conference.
"Actually, I had a feeling that this tournament is going to be good for me, but at the same time I was like, 'OK, let's see how it goes.' But, yeah, it's paying off. I'm playing good tennis again. I'm [playing] aggressive," she added.
Sakkari holds a 4-1 lead over Gauff in their head-to-head, including wins in both of their meetings last year.
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