“It was just … ‘we wanted to win bad, they wanted to win bad’. You know, healthy competition.”
After closing out her match point chance, Gauff made a digging motion gesture to her teammates courtside before approaching the star Pole at the net.
“I got the shovel out,” Gauff explained afterwards about her celebrations and how she’d “dug deep” to secure the win.
Coco Gauff celebrates her match point.Credit: Tennis TV
That victory helped Gauff put a significant dent in her lopsided head-to-head record against Swiatek, an opponent who has beaten her at Roland-Garros three times including in last year’s semis.
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Notably, it was Gauff’s second consecutive victory over Swiatek after also beating her at the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia before the American won the title. The 20-year-old improved her head-to-head record against Swiatek to 3-11 – a much better ledger for two players in the world’s top five.
“I never really focus on it [head to head] except maybe her. If you play someone and lose so many times, you have that thought in your head,” she said.
“It 1736653792 definitely gives me more confidence on court against her.”
The Florida-based Gauff is desperate to secure another major win after her breakthrough victory at the US Open a year-and-a-half ago.
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“For me, it would mean a lot,” she said.
“I want to get that second slam under my name.
“I mean I’m a hardcourt girl, so I love hardcourt. My best results are on hardcourt.”
Gauff’s win at the WTA Tour finals in Saudi Arabia in November is already among her career highlights. She was the youngest winner of the lucrative event in 20 years.
She said that leading into the opening major of 2025, she was feeling as comfortable as ever on court.
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“I feel very confident in my game,” Gauff said.
“It’s probably the most I felt since being on tour. And I think the results are showing that.
“And how I feel on the court, sometimes you’re losing, and you feel like you have no solutions. [But now] I feel like I always have solutions whether I execute them or not.
“That’s where I feel with my game now – I feel confident in it.
“Also, I’m giving myself grace, knowing that it’s not possible to play great tennis every day. So you work hard enough to hope that it becomes more consistent – more consistent good days than bad days.”
Watch all the Australian Open action live on Nine, 9Now and Stan from Sunday, January 12.
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