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Coco Gauff won the ASB Classic, WTA tournament in Auckland, New Zealand, by beating Elina Svitolina in a hard-fought final, with the final score of 6-7 6-3 6-3. The young American tennis player has started the 2024 hard-courts Oceanic campaign in the right way, following up on the excellent performances she has shown since her super summer 2023 on the North American hard-courts.
The young US Open winner managed to beat the Ukrainian tennis player despite having lost the first set in the tie-break, once again showing her considerable improvements on this surface. Svitolina also did well and, after maternity leave and her comeback, is finding continuity in performances and positive results.
Speaking after the win, Coco Gauff shared her feelings, explaining what it was like to defend a title for the first time in her career. "It's the first time I had to defend a title, so I'm very happy that I did it today.
This year the tournament was very different. Last year it rained almost every single match and we played indoors, with few people around. watch, so it's really nice to play in front of a packed house almost every game," explained the US star.
Svitolina, who played for the first time in Auckland, congratulated Gauff. "It was a great experience playing here for the first time. I want to congratulate Coco and her team on a great start to the year.
Good luck at the Australian Open. I had fun here, playing great matches. Today is It was a tough defeat, obviously."
🔙2️⃣🔙@CocoGauff holds off a spirited effort from Elina Svitolina 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3 to claim a second straight Auckland title 🏆🏆#ASBClassic pic.twitter.com/3U8NloqnMQ — wta (@WTA) January 7, 2024
The Match
Gauff had to work hard to overcome Svitolina in the final and win the title.
The first, balanced set was decided in a tie-break. Ahead 3-2, Svitolina earned 4 set points, conceding nothing else to her opponent The young American responded in the next set by obtaining three breaks overall and closing 6-3.
In the decisive set both allowed very few service chances. At 4-3, Svitolina gave Gauff the opportunity to serve for the match, which she took despite a counter-break point conceded, closing the third set with another 6-3.