Coco Gauff produces phenomenal performance over Sakkari, earns her first WTA 500 title at 2023 DC Open

Coco Gauff defeated Maria Sakkari 6-2, 6-3, and secured her first WTA 500 title at the Mubadala Citi DC Open.

The North American player finished a great week to kickstart the US Open swing and comfortably claimed the fourth title of her career. This is Coco Gauff's first WTA 500 title, which will boost her confidence for the upcoming WTA 1000 events in Canada and Cincinnati.

Gauff achieved victories over Haley Baptiste, Belinda Bencic, Ludmila Samsonova, and Maria Sakkari, conceding an average of fewer than four games per match to her opponents and not dropping any sets.

Sakkari faced yet another failure in the final stages and lost in her first final of the year and sixth consecutive final. The Greek player has lost in seven finals and has only won one tournament in Rabat in 2019.

The first set began with Sakkari committing several unforced errors, indicating the pressure she felt from the start. Gauff got her first break opportunity and took a 3-0 lead.

Although the Greek player showed a slight glimpse of a comeback after breaking Gauff's serve in the fifth game, she couldn't hold her own service due to unforced errors, eventually losing the set to the North American player 6-2.

With the advantage on her side, Gauff encountered some difficulties at the start of the second set and gave her service away, giving her opponent an advantage this time. Sakkari hit some good shots but consistently made unforced errors, unlike the focused American player during the match's development.

At 3-2 and with Sakkari serving, Gauff displayed her best tennis and capitalized on the pressure to win the last four games consecutively, clinching the title on her second match point with a final score of 6-3, 6-2.

Sakkari and Gauff were almost evenly matched in the percentage of first serves won (50% and 51% respectively), but the difference was in the number of first serves they won. Sakkari only won 46% of her first serves, compared to Gauff's 72%. In the second serve category, Sakkari dropped to 33%, while the 19-year-old Gauff achieved 43%.

In the Canadian Open, both players will enter as seeds and receive a bye in the first round. In Sakkari's case, she is the 8th seed and will await Elina Svitolina or a qualifier in the second round. As for Gauff, she will face the winner of the match between wildcard Rebecca Marino and a qualifier in the second round."