Coco Gauff believes she ‘lost in the right way’ after exiting the semi-finals of the Italian Open on Thursday. 

The reigning US Open champion fell 6-4, 6-3, to top seed Iga Swiatek after putting up a stern fight with the first set lasting almost an hour. Gauff was broken four times in her latest encounter with the Polish world No.1, who she has now lost to in ten out of their 11 Tour-level meetings. Her sole win was at the 2023 Cincinnati Open. 

Despite her lopsided record against Swiatek, an undeterred Gauff says her confidence has risen during the clay swing heading into the French Open where she will be bidding to become the first American to win the title since Serena Williams in 2015. At the Italian Open, she recorded her first win over a top 10 player this season by beating Zheg Qinwen in the quarter-finals. That was also the 200th win of her career across all levels. 

“I think from the start of the clay till now, I feel like my confidence is definitely very high,” said Gauff. 
“It sucks to lose, but I know I lost playing the right way. I know that I’m a good player and that I can do better in those moments. I think I’m just trusting myself and my practice at that.
“I think the way that I lost, it wasn’t because a wing or a shot broke down, it’s because she (Swiatek) was the better player. If I lose matches like that, we go back and we practice.”

Looking ahead to Roland Garros, the world No.3 is targeting another strong run at the Grand Slam. It is the only major event where she has reached the quarter-finals or better on three separate occasions. Her best run was to the final in 2022 when she was denied the title by Swiatek. 

“I think going into Roland Garros, like if you asked me pretournament and now, I feel like I’m a different player in terms of just how I’ve been playing.” She said.
“Going into it, I know she’s (Swiatek) the one to beat if I want to win Roland Garros. I’m going to take what I learned from today (Thursday) and try to apply that next time we play, which I hope is at Roland Garros.”

Gauff has won seven WTA titles so far in her career but only one of them was on clay. That was back in 2021 at the Parma Open in Italy. 

The ATP singles semifinals will be played on Friday, as will the WTA doubles semifinals.

For the first time ever, a Masters 1000 semifinal features two Chileans.  On Friday afternoon, Alejandro Tabilo, who upset Novak Djokovic earlier this fortnight, will face Germany’s Sascha Zverev.  On Friday evening, Nicolas Jarry, who upset Stefanos Tsitsipas on Thursday, takes on American Tommy Paul, who has already taken out two top 10 seeds, Daniil Medvedev and Hubert Hurkacz.

Throughout the tournament, this preview will analyze the day’s two most prominent matches, while highlighting the other notable matches on the schedule.  Friday’s singles play begins at 2:00pm local time.

Alejandro Tabilo (29) vs. Sascha Zverev (3) – Not Before 3:30pm on Center Court

Zverev is now 26-9 on the year, and helped Germany win the United Cup at the start of the season.  However, he has not reached the final of an individual event since last September.  Sascha won this tournament back in 2017, and reached another final the very next year, though hasn’t returned to that round since.  Zverev has won all eight sets he’s played to this stage, but he is 1-5 in his last six Masters 1000 semifinals.

Prior to this tournament, 26-year-old Tabilo had only played in the main draw of seven Masters events, and only once advanced out of the second round.  However, after earning 52 match wins at all levels last season, he’s won 26 more during 2024, so he’s been picking up steam at lower-level events.  Just a week before this tournament began, he won a Challenger title on clay.  Including that run, Alejandro is now on an eight match winning streak.  And just like Zverev, he is yet to drop a set in Rome.

In their first career meeting, of course Zverev is the favorite, with his huge edge in experience on such an occasion.  But as the ATP outlined here, Tabilo has adopted a new psychological approach to his tennis, helping him to remain more relaxed and focused.  If he can continue to play with the same confidence and freedom, against an opponent who often plays nervously in big matches, Alejandro just may pull off another upset.

Nicolas Jarry (21) vs. Tommy Paul (14) – Not Before 8:30pm on Center Court

This is a third Masters 1000 semifinal for Paul, all of which have come within the past year.  But the American is yet to reach a final, as he went down in defeat to Jannik Sinner last summer in Canada, as well as to Daniil Medvedev this past March in Indian Wells.  But unlike those semifinals, Tommy is the higher seed on Friday, and will be expected to win.  He advanced to this round with back-to-back upsets over Medvedev (in two sets) and Hurkacz (in three sets).  His three-setter against Hubi was a dramatic affair that lasted nearly three hours on Thursday afternoon.

Later that evening, Jarry also required three sets, and nearly three hours, to overcome his quarterfinal opponent, Stefanos Tsitsipas.  Nicolas had previously achieved two Masters quarterfinals, also both within this past year, but his win over the Greek breaks new ground in his career.  And just like eventual champion Andrey Rublev in Madrid, Jarry arrived in Rome on a four-match losing streak. 

Paul has twice defeated Jarry, though one of those matches was 10 years ago in the lower levels of tennis, while the other came four years ago in qualifying for Adelaide.  Their only meeting at this level came last year in the second round of Roland Garros, where Nico prevailed in four sets.  But on Friday evening, I give Tommy the slight edge to reach his first Masters 1000 final.  The American’s speed and strong return game will put a lot of pressure on Jarry, who has considerably less time to recover from his grueling quarterfinal than Paul.

Other Notable Matches on Friday:

Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk (8) vs. Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini – Dolehide and Krawczyk are looking to reach their second WTA 1000 final of the year.  The Italian team of Errani and Paolini won a title earlier this season in Linz. 

Xinyu Wang and Saisai Zheng vs. Coco Gauff and Erin Routliffe (3) – Xinyu and Saisai upset the top seeds, Hsieh and Mertens, in the quarterfinals.  This is the first tournament for the partnership of Gauff and Routliffe, though they are individually two of the best doubles players in the world.

Friday’s full Order of Play is here.

Iga Swiatek is one win away from a third Rome title after a 6-4 6-3 win over Coco Gauff in the Italian capital.

The world number one extended her winning streak to eleven matches after her tenth career win against the American.

Swiatek is aiming for a third title in Rome and a second consecutive title after her victory in Rome.

Speaking after the match Swiatek admitted she is excited and proud but is still trying to remain in the present, “For sure I’m excited and happy already with the tournament,” Swiatek said in her press conference.

“I really enjoyed playing today, as well. I’m just proud of myself. I enjoyed all of my matches here. I just didn’t say that before. I don’t know. It’s nice to play a semifinal against a top player, kind of feel like you can play your game and enjoy that.

“Even though it wasn’t easy, I felt like I can play my kind of tennis. Because of that, it was really nice. I’ll just focus on being present.”

Winning breeds confidence and that couldn’t be more true for Swiatek so far as she has the opportunity to hold the three biggest clay court titles.

However since her win in Madrid, Swiatek had admitted she hasn’t had time to analyze the significance of her performances as she has her eyes on the future, “Honestly, I didn’t have much time to analyze it and to think about it,” Swiatek reflected.

“It’s like you win a tournament and you go straightaway to another place. It’s hard to sometimes really think about the past when you constantly have to focus on the future.

“I think this match gave me confidence that I can win even though I’m not feeling the best way or I’m stressed at the beginning. I can still get the score back. Maybe I’m less worried before matches because I know even if I’m going to be in trouble, I’ll be able to recover from it maybe if I’m going to work hard.

“This is the kind of feeling that I have. Overall, as I said, it’s not like I had so much time to analyze it. Yeah, I’ll still get some lessons from it, but you need some time to digest, as well, and I feel like I didn’t have that.”

The matches keep on coming for Swiatek as she will take on either Danielle Collins or it will be a rematch of the Madrid final against Aryna Sabalenka.