2024 Cincinnati Open: Yulia Putintseva stuns defending champion Coco Gauff
Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva stunned second seed and defendin champion Coco Gauff in the 2024 Cincinnati Open. The former claimed a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory after being 4-2 down the final set. This victory marks her first against Gauff after three defeats she suffered on the clay court. As per WTA, Putintseva had not beaten a Top 5 player in a completed match since 2019.
Putintseva bounces back against Gauff
As mentioned, Putintseva made a remarkable comeback from a 4-2 deficit in the final set. She made the most of the 50 unforced errors by Gauff, including nine double faults. Gauff recorded two of these faults occurred in the seventh game of the final set. This gave Putintseva an opportunity to gain impetus after being broken.
Putintseva attains these feats
As mentioned, Putintseva hadn't beaten a Top 5 player in a completed match since 2019. She now has a win-loss record of 7-26 in this regard. Putintseva beat Gauff for the first time on the WTA tour.
Gauff's reflections on her performance
Gauff expressed disappointment over her performance, citing a lack of consistency and numerous unforced errors as contributing factors to her defeat. She acknowledged that most of the points Putintseva won were due to her errors. Despite this setback, Gauff is determined to improve before defending her US Open title. Last year, she became Cincinnati's youngest champion at age 19 and carried that success into her first Grand Slam triumph at the US Open.
Putintseva set to face Paula Badosa
Putintseva is set to face Washington DC champion Paula Badosa in the Round of 16. Badosa earlier defeated thirteenth seed Anna Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-2, thereby improving her hard-court season record to 8-1.
