Relentless Coco Gauff Earns Rare Serena Williams Milestone at Indian Wells While Overcoming Adversity

It can’t be a mere coincidence that Coco Gauff is gradually mirroring Serena Williams on the court. When she won the US Open title in 2023, it was the first time since Serena in 1999 that an American teen lifted the title at the Flushing Meadows. Then, last season, Gauff became the first American woman to win the WTA Finals trophy since 2014. Guess who lifted it last? Serena again. The 20-year-old replicating these milestones of the 23-time GS champion may compel you to wonder: Is she really the next Serena? Even Serena’s childhood coach Rick Macci believes the two share “common elements.” And it appears the World No.3 is leaving no stone unturned to prove that. How? She’s now recreated another feat of Serena. This time, at the Indian Wells.

In an episode of the Tennis Channel live podcast, dated March 12, tennis insider Steve Weissman highlighted Gauff’s amazing achievement in the ongoing BNP Paribas Open. For the uninitiated, Coco made it to the R16 (fourth round) of Indian Wells this week. She beat Greece’s Maria Sakkari in the R32 on Monday. Weissman noted that Gauff has now become “the youngest American woman to make the round of 16 at Indian Wells for three years in a row since Serena.” More than two decades ago, between 1999 and 2001, Serena also reached Indian Wells’ R16 for three straight seasons.

Hailing Gauff recently, former WTA American pro Coco Vandeweghe made some crucial remarks. Especially on her performance against Sakkari. With that win, Coco avenged her Indian Wells defeat against the Greek from last season’s quarterfinal. According to Vandewhege, “Coco Gauff is one of the tougher players out here to play.”

Also admiring Sakkari, Vandeweghe added, “Both of these women are two of the best athletes that we have on tour.” However, Gauff’s return in the tie-breaker, after initially trailing, was a testament to her mentality of fighting back, according to the ex-pro. “Just fighting against the adversity and really working hard to be able to weather the storm out here when it comes to her service games,” she continued. Gauff beat Sakkari 7-6(1), 6-1 in the end.

“I think it started out in the first set the closest set that we had in that match, where she was serving in the 70 percent. I think that’s so important for Coco Gauff to just have that confidence for herself when she is serving get lots of first serves in and be aggressive with it,” Vandeweghe explained.

After committing 21 double faults in the opening encounter against Uchijima, Gauff managed to improve drastically. She had to play three sets to clinch victory against the Japanese, but the World No.3 wrapped up the match in just two sets against Sakkari.

However, Vandeweghe still believes there’s room for improvement in Coco’s game. “I think that’s still going to be a question mark. Obviously, we’re still in the early stages for her of the season. And here we’ve seen her go out to the practice court many of times after matches to work on things. But like she said, always a perfectionist.”

While she’s now in the fourth round, Gauff will look to channel her inner Serena even further. It’s because she’s yet to win a title in Indian Wells – a title that Serena won twice back in 1999 and 2001. While Gauff is yet to make it happen, she seems focused to pull off a title win in the Californian desert this time around.

Coco Gauff is happy with her Indian Wells campaign despite a sluggish start

After her first match in this year’s Indian Wells against Uchijima, Coco Gauff confessed, “Yeah, it was a tough match. I didn’t play as well as I would like to, but full credit to her. She stepped it up when she needed to.”

Throwing light on her problems with double faults, she added, “I think if I just double-faulted less it could have probably been a straight-set match. I felt off the ground I felt like I was dictating more of the rallies.” She clearly learned from her mistakes quickly and absolutely dominated in the next match against Sakkari. Playing the Greek WTA pro, the 2024 WTA Finals winner committed just nine double faults. Plus, she sealed the victory in just an hour and 35 minutes. That was quite remarkable.

Sharing her honest feelings after securing a place in R16, Coco said, “Except the last game, I thought I played a great match. Just trying to look at the positives. Obviously I was a bit disappointed with the last game, but that’s just the perfectionist in me.”

But what’s next? Well, she’s now set for a rematch of January’s Australian Open fourth round. Gauff will face none other than Belinda Bencic in the R16 on Wednesday. Bencic is coming off her three straight victories in Indian Wells. In the first match, she beat Germany’s Tatjana Maria with a score line of 6-1, 6-1 before overcoming Amanda Anisimova and Diana Schnaider in R64 and R32, respectively.

Coco Gauff leads Bencic 2-1 in the H2H tally as of now. It will be interesting to see if the Swiss player avenges that QF loss against Gauff down under. What’s your prediction for this match? Let us know in the comments below.