PERSEVERANCE, DETERMINATION, FOCUS, COMMITEMENT, HARD WORK, SELF BELIEVE AND HUNGER …

Coco Gauff defeated Karolina Muchova China Open finals on Sunday.

It did not take long for Coco Gauff to defeat Karolina Muchova in the finals of the China Open on Sunday. Gauff defeated Muchova in straight sets: 6-1, 6-3.

Gauff became the youngest China Open champion in 14 years. She is also the second American to have won the tournament outside of Serena Williams, who won in 2004 and 2013.

Gauff has now won eight singles titles in her career. Her record improves to 8-1 in finals matches. Even more impressively, she is the first player to be 7-0 in hard-court finals in the Open era.

Gaff’s road to the title was not easy, nor were the last few months of her time on tour. Gauff battled from a set down in the previous three rounds. It was a true sign of her resiliency, given her underwhelming season.

After a few months of early exits, Gauff fired Brad Gilbert as her coach after the US Open. The China Open was Gauff’s first tournament since adding Matt Daly to her coaching team.

After the match, Gauff was gracious to Muchova and the fans in attendance. She also thanked her new coach, “I would like to thank my team. It’s our first tournament together as a full, complete team. Thank you, Matt. This is our first tournament together, and obviously, it’s going well, so thank you for helping me throughout this week.”

Gauff will pass Jessica Pegula to take the No. 5 spot in the WTA Rankings. The final WTA 1000 tournament of the season, the Wuhan Open, starts tomorrow. She will most likely qualify for the WTA Finals featuring the eight top players, which starts in the first week of November.

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