Aryna Sabalenka vs. Coco Gauff: Eight stats that define the women’s final at the US Open
A look at the rivalry between Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka ahead of their clash in the 2023 US Open final on Saturday
Aryna Sabalenka et Coco Gauff, US Open 2023 – © Chryslène Caillaud / Panoramic – © Tennis Majors
Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff will face each other in their most high-profile clash so far on Saturday in the final of the 2023 US Open.
It’s a showdown between the soon-to-be WTA No 1 (Sabalenka) and current No 6 (Gauff). Gauff is the one who is still chasing her first Grand Slam crown. It’s in her second Slam final for both players, with Gauff reaching the championship match at Roland-Garros in 2022, losing to Iga Swiatek while Sabalenka won the 2023 Australian Open.
1. Gauff, the first since Serena?
If Coco Gauff wins on Saturday, she will become the first American teen to win a women’s singles Grand Slam title this century and the first since Serena Williams at the US Open in 1999.
Since the turn of the century, Gauff is only the seventh teenager to hold consecutive seasons with 10+ wins at Grand Slam events after Caroline Wozniacki, Kim Clijsters, Maria Sharapova, Nicole Vaidisova, Serena Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
2. Gauff’s best winning streak ever
Gauff has now won 11 consecutive matches, a run stretching back to her loss at the hands of doubles partner Jessica Pegula in the Montreal quarter-finals. It is the longest winning streak of her career at WTA main draw level, with seven of those coming in straight sets.
During this run, she has won a first WTA1000 title and reach a second Grand Slam final (a first at her home slam). Gauff is 17-1 in her last 18 matches since Wimbledon.
3. Mind Coco’s return
Gauff is the player with the most first (114) and second (105) serve return points won in women’s singles at the 2023 US Open.
4. Sabalenka, following in the footsteps of Kerber in 2016
Sabalenka is the first player to make the women’s singles final of both the Australian Open and US Open (the two slams played on hard courts) in the same year since Angelique Kerber in 2016.
The Belarusian could also become the youngest player to win the women’s singles title at the Australian Open and at the US Open in the same year since Martina Hingis in 1997.
5. Sabalenka, the best Slam player of the year
Sabalenka is the only woman to have reached the semis at each of the four Grand Slam tournaments this year (winner in Melbourne, semi-finalist in Paris and London). Her semi-final win over Madison Keys was her 23rd Grand Slam match of 2023 – only three players since 2000 have managed more women’s singles wins in Grand Slam matches in a calendar year — Serena Williams (2015 and 2016), Justine Henin (2003 and 2006) and Jennifer Capriati (2001).
6. Sabalenka chases the hard-court double
Sabalenka could become only the fourth player in the last two decades to win her first two hard-court women’s singles Grand Slam finals after Kerber, Henin and Naomi Osaka.
7. Sabalenka, No 1 in singles and doubles
On Monday, Sabalenka will become only the eighth women’s player to have held the world No1 ranking in both doubles and singles. She will join the exclusive club which currently includes Martina Navratilova, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, the Williams sisters, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport and Kim Clijsters.
8. Sabalenka looks to even the head-to-head series
Sabalenka and Gauff are set to face off for the sixth time in their careers. Gauff currently holds a 3-2 record head-to-head against Sabalenka, with Sabalenka handing Gauff the first of three 6-0 sets conceded for the year in their last previous meeting (Indian Wells quarter-final).
Gauff has won seven sets and 69 games in their five meetings; Sabalenka has won six sets and 68 games. They have both broken serve 20 times.
