Elina Svitolina beats Coco Gauff for third time in a row to claim Italian Open title

Elina Svitolina is now 8-0 in finals on clay after claiming the Italian Open for the third time in her career. Emmanuele Ciancaglini / Getty Images Share articleElina Svitolina has Coco Gauff’s number. Svitolina knocked off Gauff for the third consecutive time this season Saturday in Rome, with a 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-2 win that saw her lift the Italian Open for a third time. “Hard to believe it’s been eight years since I’ve held this trophy,” said Svitolina, who last won in the tournament in 2018. Her win marked a second consecutive triumph for women from Ukraine at WTA 1000 level, the rung below the Grand Slams. Marta Kostyuk won the Madrid Open at the start of May, defeating Mirra Andreeva of Russia in the final. Svitolina thanked all the home fans who watched her from her home country the past two weeks. “I feel all the love,” she said. Gauff, playing in her second consecutive Italian Open final, appeared in control of the match in the first set, leading 4-2 with chances to go up by two breaks of serve. But she couldn’t get the clinching shot, and Svitolina got through four consecutive games to take the first set. Gauff’s serve, which had been reliable for much of the tournament, began to leak mistakes. Gauff was furious with herself after losing the first set, smacking herself in the head with her racket as she headed to her bench before tossing the racket aside. Her coach, Jean-Christophe Faurel, tried to convince her that she was doing everything they had planned, and was simply missing out on her opportunities. Faurel had a point. Gauff had 13 break points in the first two sets to 9 for Svitolina, but Gauff only converted 3. Still, Gauff almost always fights, and with Svitolina two points from the match in the second set, she buckled down and played some of her best tennis of the day, pushing the set to a tiebreak and winning it decisively. But just as at February’s Dubai Tennis Championships, where Svitolina lost a second-set tiebreak but reset and won, she snatched back the momentum midway through the third set. Svitolina ultimately reeled off five straight games to flip a 1-2 deficit and surge across the finish line — though not before some tension. With Svitolina serving for the match at 5-2 in the third set, Gauff earned four more chances to break her serve and begin a climb back. On her third match point, Svitolina dug a ball out of the corner, chased one down near the service line, then charged the net and blocked the final ball past Gauff with a desperation stab. Svitolina had out-Gauffed Gauff. Waiting for the trophy ceremony, Gauff sat with her face in her hands. It was her second consecutive loss in a final, following a defeat to world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka at the Miami Open, also in three sets. As disappointing as the loss was, Gauff could find a silver lining in recent history. She lost the Italian Open final last year, to Jasmine Paolini. Three weeks later, she won the French Open for the first time. “I definitely feel the momentum going into the French Open,” Gauff said during the trophy ceremony. This year, she has shown a similar pattern, making the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, where Svitolina beat her with ease, before playing unevenly through February and March, and then rounding into form through the clay season. Saturday in Rome, the errors were simply too numerous: She made 67 unforced ones against Svitolina. Over the past 12 days, Svitolina announced herself as another player to be reckoned with in Paris. On her way to the Rome final, Svitolina beat Elena Rybakina, Iga Świątek, and finally Gauff, the world No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4. She will arrive at Roland Garros for the second Grand Slam of the year as a player who none of the top contenders, Świątek and Gauff chief among them, will want to face. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms