Coco Gauff’s defeat at the hands of the Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska in the first round was perhaps the biggest upset at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships. Simply because she had just won the title at the Roland Garros a few weeks before that. So, with tears in her eyes during the post-match press conference at Wimbledon, the American admitted she was quite “disappointed” with the result and also went on to add, “After the match, I definitely was struggling in the locker room. I don’t like losing.” But is it time for a revenge for Gauff?

Coco Gauff has faced Dayana Yastremska four times in her career. Although she has won three of their previous meetings, she hasn’t faced Yastremska on the hard courts. After making an early exit from Wimbledon, the world number 2 also claimed that she didn’t want to dwell on that too long because she wanted to shift her focus to the US Open. However, before heading to NY for the major event, Gauff had to get some wins under her belt at the preparatory tournaments ahead of the US Open. Surprisingly, she faced defeat at the hands of the 18-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko (eventual champion) in the R16 of the Canadian Open by 1-6,4-6.

Although Coco Gauff overcame that shocking defeat with a dominating victory against Xinyu Wang in the R64 of the Cincinnati Open, up next for the 21-year-old will be someone who had ruined her Wimbledon dream. Following her impressive 6-3,6-2 win over Wang, when Gauff appeared at the press conference, she was asked if she’s now seeking revenge against Yastremska. In reply, she said, “Umm, I don’t ever think of like a revenge type of tennis. At first, I used to think like that, but then I’m like, I’ve played too many people too many times to have like a revenge mindset, but no, I think for me, it’s a good measure to see where my game is. I felt that Wimbledon match was, you know, it was just a tough loss for me, and I don’t think I approached it as well. And Dayana, I always have trouble against her. She’s a tough opponent, a great ball striker, and can pull winners out of anywhere. So yeah, it’ll be a tough test for me, especially having to play her again.”

Dayana Yastremska’s impressive performances in her previous meeting against Coco Gauff drew praise from tennis legends like Andy Roddick. But this time, Gauff has reasons to be hopeful. “But you know, I thinkI had more time to work on things on the hard court season and definitely I think [it is] a bettersurface than grass for me,” she added.

Last year, Coco Gauff got eliminated from this tournament in the first round at the hands of Yulia Putintseva. But this time, she has already succeeded in going a step further, thanks to a milestone first-round victory.

Coco Gauff’s won big, but it only gets tougher from here

Coco Gauff won the title here in 2023, and in that same year, she also clinched her first major title (US Open). Time will tell if she can repeat this feat by winning both these tournaments this year or not. But she has definitely got off to a strong start at the Cincinnati Open. Gauff took just 70 minutes to beat Xinyu Wang. She converted each of the five break points the Chinese offered and saved five of seven. Interestingly, after serving 8 double faults in her first three service games, Coco Gauff had zero the rest of the way. 

With this win, she has now improved her overall record to 36-8 in the opening matches of the WTA 1000 tournaments. Since the WTA 1000/Tier I format was introduced in 1990, only Martina Hingis has won more opening matches at the WTA 1000 events before her 22nd birthday. 

While sharing her thoughts after her win against Wang, Coco Gauff said, “It feels great to be back in Cincinnati. Obviously, two years ago I won, and it set me up for a great two weeks in New York [winning the US Open], so it means a lot to me, this tournament.” Speaking about this match, she added, “It was a rough start. But it was about just trusting myself and the work we’ve done in practice.”

If Coco Gauff wins her match against Yastremska, she could face Jelena Ostapenko in the next round before setting up a possible clash against Jasmine Paolini in the QF and then Jessica Pegula in the SF. Her probable opponents in the final could be either Aryna Sabalenka or Iga Swiatek. Do you think Gauff can overcome these hurdles and win the title this year in Cincinnati?