Coco Gauff made a promising start to her clay season on Thursday but it didn’t lead to a big week in Stuttgart after the American exited the tournament in the quarterfinal.
Jasmine Paolini, seeded at No. 5, clinched her first win over the American after beating the No. 4 seed 6-4 6-3.
After demolishing Ella Seidel 6-1 6-1 in her first clay match of 2025, Gauff also started pretty well against the two-time Grand Slam finalist, opening an early 4-2 lead. But then, the 21-year-old’s level suddenly collapsed and she lost the next six games as the Italian went 6-4 2-0 up.
While the fourth-seeded American didn’t give up and she twice managed to come back from a break down in the second set, she dropped her serve again in the sixth game. In the rest of the set, Paolini routinely held on to her serve to get the job done in two sets.
Today, Gauff had only three double faults. But the issue was the fact that she won only 51 percent of her first serve points and 39 percent of her points on her second serve.
Meanwhile, Paolini plays against Aryna Sabalenka in the Stuttgart semifinal.
Paolini gets her first win over Gauff
For the 29-year-old, this was her first win over the American but also her first top-10 victory of the year. Before the match, the Italian said she would try to “control” things on the court.
“We know each other. I have practiced with her a lot in the last I think six months. She’s a really tough player. She can play really, really well. Her ball is so powerful, I think. I don’t know what to expect, but for sure, I need to try to be aggressive, to try to, you know, control the point,” Paolini said before facing the American.
