Coco Gauff was eliminated from the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells on Wednesday following a three-set loss to Belinda Bencic, and the American admitted afterward that inconsistency on key shots cost her the match.
Gauff, ranked No. 3 in the world, won the opening set 6-3 but dropped the next two, falling 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the round of 16. The match turned at 4-4 in the third set when Gauff, leading 40-0 on serve, lost five consecutive points, including two forehand errors and a misjudged drop shot. Bencic held serve in the next game to seal the win.
“I still think I could have served better,” Gauff said, as reported by Matthew Futterman of The Athletic. “Obviously more consistent, but I definitely want to get more aggressive with it.”
Gauff has been refining her serve since the end of last season, including working with grip specialist Matt Daly. Although her serve showed signs of improvement in the match, her forehand remained inconsistent under pressure.
“She hits the ball so low and flat, so it’s tough to hit how I would like,” Gauff said of Bencic. “I think there is a balance in it, but I think today, honestly, I felt like I let her dictate a lot from the backhand corner. I think that’s something that I don’t want to happen — I feel like that’s the corner I should be dictating.”
Bencic, who returned to the WTA Tour recently after giving birth last year, has been in strong form. She said she sensed nerves from Gauff in the final games and focused on exploiting the forehand side.
“I felt like she was more tense and that was the right time to go for the forehand,” Bencic said. “It was an instinctive choice.”
Bencic had previously said she wasn’t yet prepared to face Gauff in a three-set match. But just a few weeks later, she captured the WTA 500 title in Abu Dhabi — less than 10 months after giving birth to her daughter Bella — rallying from a set down to defeat American Ashlyn Krueger in the final.
“The body is holding up much better now,” she said.
Gauff, who turned 21 on Thursday, said she still leaves Indian Wells with some positives but acknowledged the disappointment.
“Especially in that last game, up 40-0, I probably could have went bigger in those moments,” she said.
The post Coco Gauff reveals what’s to blame for Indian Wells loss appeared first on ClutchPoints.