Biggest career title awaits either Gauff or Sakkari in Citi Open final

Regardless of who wins the Mubadala Citi DC Open final on Sunday, it will be the biggest title of her career.

Coco Gauff and Maria Sakkari will battle for the Washington, DC trophy and to say that the stakes are high for both women would be a gross understatement. Neither one has ever won this prestigious of a tournament.

Gauff secured her spot in the title tilt by beating defending champion Liudmila Samsonova 6-3, 6-3 in Saturday’s second semi-final. That was preceded by Sakkari’s 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 defeat of Jessica Pegula.

Gauff aims for second title of season

At just 19 years old, Gauff has already captured three WTA titles. However, none has come at the 500 level. The American triumphed at the 2019 Linz Open, the 2021 Emilia-Romagna Open and the 2023 Auckland Classic. She finished runner-up at the 2022 French Open (lost to Iga Swiatek).

“It’s something that honestly I didn’t really think about it (before this week started),” Gauff said of advancing to the final. “Like, a win is a win — but also, in the same point, yeah, it’s cool. I did say at the beginning of this year that I wanted to do better in these 500 and 1000-level tournaments. I know I made the semis in Dubai and semis in Berlin, so I’m happy to finally get through to the final.”

Sakkari struggles in WTA finals

Whereas Gauff is a sparkling 3-1 lifetime in WTA finals, Sakkari comes in with a 1-5 record in such situations. The 28-year-old Greek’s lone victory has come at the 2019 clay-court tournament in Rabat, Morocco. She has since lost five finals in a row, including four last season (two at the 1000-point level in Indian Wells and Guadalajara).

“I think that I have been doing pretty well,” Sakkari said, referencing noise in the media about her past shortcomings in semi-finals and finals. “I have been top 10 for two years, but I guess that everyone has something to say.

“So, at the same time it is what it is. I don’t really care about it anymore. I just want to win the title. Yeah, that’s for sure.”

The world No 9 is 4-1 all time in the head-to-head series with Gauff, including 3-0 on hard courts. They most recently faced each other twice in 2022, when Sakkari got the job done in straight sets on the hard courts of Doha and on the red clay of Rome.

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