Berlin Open bombshell: Coco Gauff suffers shock, falls early against Xinyu Wang

Coco Gauff faced a surprise at the Berlin Ladies Open following her debut loss to Xinyu Wang. The Chinese player delivered an upset to the American, defeating her 6-3, 6-4 and knocking out the two-time Grand Slam champion early. Gauff will now have to travel to Wimbledon with just one prior match on grass courts.

The World No. 49 snapped Gauff's seven-match winning streak, which earned her the Roland Garros title. Wang has shown great effectiveness in this grass-swing, after successfully navigating qualifying – defeating Ons Jabeur along the way – and securing a strong first-round win against Daria Kasatkina. In the quarterfinals, she will seek another upset against Spain's Paula Badosa.

Gauff's level lately seems to depend largely on her serve, which is probably her biggest problem this season. The American had only 38% first serves in throughout the set and won just 53% of points on serve – quite low numbers considering the surface. From the very first game, Wang started with a couple of break opportunities, but Gauff managed to save them with a couple of good rallies and an unforced error from Wang on one of her chances.

The Chinese player had no problems with her own serve, and everything remained even until 3-3. From there, Gauff's inconsistent serving began to falter. Wang secured two consecutive breaks (on three opportunities) and took the set 6-3, seizing control of the match. Wang had won the last four games consecutively and capitalized on the five double faults Gauff hit throughout the set.

The second set began with both players holding their first service game. The moment arrived when Gauff could finally take the lead, converting a single break opportunity, and then saving a couple of chances against her to go up 3-1, though not without difficulty.

However, Gauff began to unravel, suffering from unforced errors and double faults, compounded by evident frustration with her opponent's consistency. Wang started a remarkable run of points, securing two consecutive breaks and having no trouble on her own serve. From 1-3 down, Wang won 5 consecutive games to close out the victory 6-3, 6-3. In the second set, Gauff again had a poor 38% first serve percentage, an aspect she will need to improve if she wants a good run at Wimbledon.