Italian Open 2024: Coco Gauff vs Iga Swiatek; Preview, Head-to-Head, and Prediction

After some action-packed matches at the 2024 Italian Open, we’re now finally heading towards the business end. And guess what? Tennis fans are all set to witness a high-voltage clash between the world number one and the number 3. Both Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff often find themselves competing for the big titles. They have often faced each other at the business end of the tournaments. So, opponents are not new to each other. But who knows the exact road to the finals of the 2024 Italian Open?

Talking about their seasons so far, Iga Swiatek has already clinched three titles this season. Now she will look forward to clinching another title and grabbing a few more points to make things difficult for the number 2 and number 3 to chase her down this season. But Coco Gauff, is a mighty challenger, on her day she can easily disrupt all the equations. But will Iga Swiatek give her that chance?

Coco Gauff vs Iga Swiatek: Preview

If we look at Gauff’s season this year, she started it emphatically with a title triumph at the ASB Classic. After that, she reached two SFs and two QFs in the rest of the tournaments before taking her flight to Rome. She has been quite consistent this year. But in this tournament, Coco Gauff had to see off some intriguing battles to make her way into the SF. The American tennis star managed to defeat the number 7, Qinwen Zheng by a 7-6(4),6-1 margin in just 1 hour 49 minutes. She hit just two aces and committed six double faults against the Chinese.

Her first serve win percentage was around 80% but it dropped significantly to 57% on her second serve. Coco Gauff converted four out of her eight breakpoints against Zheng. This was her first victory against a Top 10 this season. But her biggest concern this season has been the high number of double-fault counts in her matches. So, far Coco Gauff has hit a total of 103 aces but has committed 168 double faults in this year. She has won 70% of her service games compared to just 50.5% of her return games. Are these numbers enough to keep her ahead of the world number one in this enticing contest?

Well, for that we need to look at Swiatek’s numbers first! Apart from winning three titles this season, Iga Swiatek reached the SFs of her previous tournaments twice this year. The Polish tennis star is showing no signs of slowing down in Rome as well. She’s currently on a ten-match winning streak and is yet to drop a set in this tournament. In her previous match, Swiatek thrashed America’s Madison Keys by 6-1,6-3. But surprisingly, she hit zero aces and committed zero double faults against the American.

Iga Swiatek’s first serve win percentage in that match was around 69% and on the second serve it rose to 79%. She successfully converted four out of her five breakpoints in that match against Keys. Looking at her numbers from this season, she has hit just 54 aces this season and committed 57 double faults. Iga Swiatek has won 82.4% of her service games but could manage to win just 46.7% of her return games this season. But who managed to get the upper hand in their previous encounters?

Gauff vs Swiatek: Head-to-Head

Well, sadly for the American, it has been a one-way traffic in their previous encounters. Iga Swiatek leads the H2H scoreline against Coco Gauff by a 9-1 margin. But did you know they had first met each other at the SF of the 2021 Italian Open? In that match, Swiatek defeated Gauff by 7-6,6-3. In the 2022 French Open finals, they had yet again crossed paths but the result was still the same- a two-set victory in favor of Swiatek.

But after multiple attempts, Coco Gauff finally managed to beat the Polish tennis star at the Cincinnati Masters in 2023. She defeated her by 7-6,3-6,6-4. Apart from this match, it has been a sheer dominance from Iga Swiatek. Forget about matches, Gauff has failed to win even a set against Swiatek. Their last meeting was at the WTA Finals in 2023. In that match, Swiatek defeated the American by 6-0,7-5 at the Estadio Paradisus.

She hit just a single ace in that match and committed two double faults. Whereas Coco Gauff failed to hit a single ace against Swiatek, instead committed seven double faults. Iga Swiatek’s first serve win percentage in that match was 68% while it was around 54% on the second serve. For Gauff it was just 50% and 47% respectively. The Polish tennis star converted six out of her ten breakpoints and the American converted two out of three breakpoints in that match. But who’s going to covert the half chance into winners and seal the deal in the SF?

Prediction: Swiatek will win this match but in three sets this time

Both the players are in red-hot form this season. Iga Swiatek has a win-loss record of 36-4 this season while Coco Gauff has 25-7. Winning a title makes you hungry to win more, so they will be keen to make their presence felt in Rome! Iga Swiatek’s aggressive, all-court style of play will be tested against Coco Gauff’s remarkable agility and athleticism.

Talking about movements, Iga Swiatek has a remarkable ability to slide down the dirt of the clay courts. While Gauff’s “fighting” spirit may give her a tough challenge for sliding out of this match on a winning note. However, looking at their previous results from their faceoffs and the way Iga Swiatek has dominated, it’ll be really tough for Coco Gauff to beat the number one. But in tennis never say never! Gauff is going to give her all in this match.