"I know how the nerves feel" says Gauff ahead of Emilia-Romagna final

Saturday, 22 May 2021 at 09:15

Coco Gauff is through to her 1st clay career final at the first edition of the Emilia-Romagna Open.

Coco Gauff is enjoying a terrific two-week stretch on the red clay of Italy. The American teenage sensation is through to the Emilia-Romagna Open final one week after reaching the semifinal at the Rome Masters. The win over Siniakova improved Gauff to 22-9 on the year and 11-3 on clay.

Her match against Siniakova lasted three sets with Gauff bouncing back strong after losing the 2nd set 6-1. On that she said:

"[Siniakova is] a super tricky player, she obviously had some great wins this week. To be honest, I just kind of hung in there, and although in the second set my level went down a little bit, I was glad that I was able to pick it up for the third."

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The teenager has been in great ever form ever since Adelaide posting a 19-6 record that included several deep runs in events. It will be the 2nd final Gauff has played in her career having won the WTA Linz Open in 250 at age 15 as a lucky loser. On that she said:

"It definitely gives me more experience, just the fact that I’ve been in a final before, so I know how the nerves feel, and I know how to handle it a little bit better. Tomorrow, I’m just going to go out there and have fun."

She will face Qiang Wang who also had a great week in Parma defeating Sloane Stephens in the semifinal. They never played before. The match starts at 14:30 CET and you can follow the score on our live scores page.