Coco Gauff admitted she was feeling the pressure as she prepared to defend her title in Cincinnati and it clearly affected her as she crashed to a shock defeat against Yulia Putintseva.
Gauff is defending a huge haul of WTA ranking points over the next couple of weeks after her win at the WTA 1000 event was backed up by a maiden Grand Slam win at the US Open, which yielded 2,000 ranking points.
The danger of losing in both tournaments a year after success like that is a massive rankings collapse and the first part of that nightmare scenario has fallen into place after the defeat against Putintseva.
Gauff will slip down one position from the No 2 spot she was in last week, with Aryna Sabalenka leaping above her in the rankings after the defeat against Putintseva.
She will slide further down the rankings if her current slump in form continues at the US Open, with Puntinseva’s 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 win further rocking Gauff’s fragile confidence.
“It was very, very tough because Coco started to play very well in the third set,” Putinseva told the Tennis Channel.
“She was putting a lot of pressure on my serve, on my shots. I felt like she was running everywhere and getting all the balls back.
“In the end, I got a bit lucky and her serve didn’t work. That made a difference in the third set.”
Putinseva beat Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon in July and now she has Gauff’s scalp on her record and she thanked her parents for giving her belief to overcome the odds.
“Since I was a little kid, only my parents believed in me,” she added. “They said I was able to do well with my height.
“Even though I’m smaller than the other ones in the group. My father was like ‘You’re the best. You’re the best. You have to believe you’re the best. Otherwise, it’s not gonna work.’ And I was always putting that in my head.
“That I always have to fight. If I fight and if I’m there every point, I can do it.”
Putinseva’s joy was contrasted by Gauff’s understandable disappointment and she left the court in haste after a defeat that continued her poor run of form.
Since reaching the semi-finals and losing to eventual champion Iga Swiatek at the French Open in June, Gauff has slipped to a series of disappointing defeats.
She was beaten by fellow American Emma Navaro in a shock last-16 defeat at Wimbledon and then lost against Donna Vekic in another surprise result at the Olympics.
Gauff would have been hoping a return to her favourite North American hard courts would have fired her back into winning form, but the defeat against Diana Shnaider in Toronto last week was a blow.
This latest loss against Putinseva has added to her misery and she is now set to be seeded at No 3 for the US Open, paving the way for a potential semi-final against top seed Iga Swiatek.
At this moment, Gauff would be delighted to take a semi-final place at the US Open as she does not look to have the form or confidence behind her to challenge in New York unless she finds a new lease of life quickly.
