Coco Gauff has credited a shift in mentality for her turnaround following what she described as “one of the worst matches” of her career at the 2026 United Cup.
The two-time Grand Slam champion earned a dominant 6-3, 6-2 victory over world No 51 Maria Sakkari in Perth to give USA a 1-0 lead against Greece in the United Cup quarter-finals.
Gauff then teamed up with Christian Harrison to defeat Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas 4-6, 6-4, 10-8 in the decisive doubles match after Tsitsipas had downed Taylor Fritz 6-4, 7-5 to level the tie.
In her previous singles match, the world No 4 suffered a brutal 1-6, 7-6(3), 0-6 defeat to 42nd-ranked Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in USA’s group stage tie against Spain.
In her heavy loss to Bouzas Maneiro, Gauff’s serving troubles resurfaced as she won only 59% of her first serve points and just 19 percent of her second serve points, having committed 14 double faults. She lost nine of her 13 service games.
It was a completely different story against Sakkari as Gauff posted some impressive statistics on serve – including facing just a single break point.
Following her triumph over the 30-year-old Greek, Gauff gave a brutally honest assessment of her loss to Bouzas Maneiro as she discussed her significant increase in level.
“Yeah, I think for me it felt like one of my worst matches of my career,” said Gauff.
“So I was like, okay, I felt like I was practising well, and I’m playing practice sets well, and my first match went well. So I tried to erase it and learn from it.”
