GAUFF WINS SECOND CINCINNATI TITLE AHEAD OF US OPEN

Coco Gauff defeated Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-4 in the Cincinnati Open final to claim her second title at the tournament. The victory marked Gauff's first WTA title of the season and her fourth career WTA 1000 title. Gauff reached the final after winning twelve consecutive sets following a first-round loss to Liudmila Samsonova. She also reached the semifinals in Toronto earlier in the hard-court swing.

The American made significant changes to her serve in the months preceding this tournament. After experiencing service difficulties that included 16 double faults during a quarterfinal loss at Cincinnati the previous year, Gauff hired biomechanics expert Gavin MacMillan to reshape her technique. The transformation began the week before last year's US Open, a period Gauff described as frustrating, saying she felt her game was declining. At this year's Cincinnati tournament, Gauff demonstrated improved confidence in her serve and employed a more aggressive court approach, including aggressive return positioning that yielded six breaks against Marta Kostyuk in the quarterfinal and five against Pegula in the final.

Gauff stated she does not consider the Cincinnati victory an indicator of success at the upcoming US Open. Historically, her form at warm-up events has correlated with major tournament success — she won both Washington and Cincinnati before claiming the US Open in 2023, and reached finals at Madrid and Rome before winning the French Open in 2024. Gauff holds a 20-6 record at Flushing Meadows but has recorded successive fourth-round exits in the two years following her 2023 US Open victory.