Coco Gauff is no stranger to clay.
It will be Gauff versus Jasmine Paolini in the women’s singles final at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.
Gauff is in her first Italian Open finalGettyThe No. 3-ranked player in the world versus the No. 5-ranked player in the world.
A battle of the titans between the American supernova and the Italian star playing in front of the home crowd.
Gauff is in her second straight WTA 1000 final of this year’s clay-court swing and will be looking to capture her 10th WTA title.
The 21-year-old has fared quite well on clay in her career but has been on a bit of a title drought on the surface.
In fact, it was four years ago when Gauff really put her name on the map, doing so on the red courts.
At the 2021 Emilia-Romagna Open, at just 17 years old, Gauff won the women’s singles and women’s doubles all on the same day.
She hit 21 winners to dominate Qiang Wang — 12 years her senior — in the final before teaming up with compatriot Caty McNally to seal doubles glory later that day.
Since then, her stardom has reached a whole new level.
And now she will be looking to add another clay title under her belt.
But it won’t be easy. Paolini will have the home crowd behind her.
Gauff really burst on to the scene in 2021Getty Gauff will be looking to end her title drought on clayGettyShe becomes the first Italian-born finalist in this tournament in over a decade, looking to capture her third WTA title.
Gauff will have her hands full, especially after her laborious semifinals clash against Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen.
The American’s victory over Qinwen was the longest main-draw match of the year — a 3-hour and 32-minute late-night back-and-forth affair.
It was also the longest of Gauff’s career to date.
“I was just trying to go for every point,” the American, who urged the crowd to ‘boo’ her a few days ago, said after her monstrous win.
“I knew before it was going to be a physical match. Last time we played was over three hours.
“Overall I’m just happy. Wasn’t my best level at all, to be honest. Just happy to get through it and through to another final.”
Now she is one victory away from ending her four-year title drought on clay.
Gauff has a 2-1 career record against Paolini, but the Italian star won their only meeting on clay.
Gauff defeated Paolini both times on hard courts, at Adelaide in 2021 and Cincinnati in 2023.
However, Paolini took down Gauff last month at Stuttgart, with a 6–4, 6–3 victory on indoor clay at the WTA 500 event.
The two are set to face off in the final this Saturday, May 17.
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