The stage is all set at Court 1 of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden for the clash of ‘Dream Crushers’. The home favorite, Coco Gauff will take on Maria Sakkari to secure a place in the finals of the 2024 BNP Paribas Open in just a few hours from now. Can the Greek tennis star cause a major upset in California?

Well, we’ve to wait a bit to get this answer. But both of them will step into this intriguing contest after their emphatic victory against two promising stars of WTA in the QF of the tournament. 

Coco Gauff vs Maria Sakkari: Preview

Coco Gauff recently ended the dream run of China’s Yue Yuan by defeating her by a 6-4,6-3 margin at the QF of the Indian Wells. On the other hand, Maria Sakkari ended all hopes of the American tennis player, Emma Navarro in her previous match. But whose dream will be shattered in the SF this time around?

Coco Gauff started her season with a title triumph at the ASB Classic. After that, she went to Melbourne Park and reached the SF of the 2024 AO. In the SF, she was defeated by the ultimate champion Aryna Sabalenka by 6-7, 4-6. In Qatar Open she faced defeat in her very first match but made a comeback in the Dubai Tennis Championships by reaching the QF of the tournament. Then in Indian Wells, she recently ended Yuan Yue’s 9-match winning streak to make her way into the semis.

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On the other hand, Maria Sakkari started her campaign this year at the AO. Over there, she could only manage her way into the second round, where she was defeated by the number 63 from Russia, Elina Avanesyan. After that, she faced two successive early exits in Abu Dhabi and Doha. But made a comeback in Dubai by reaching the R16.

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In her previous match at the Indian Wells, Maria Sakkari defeated Emma Navarro by 5-7,6-2,6-4. Both Coco Gauff and Maria Sakkari have been in good form as of now, but who’s ahead in the H2H?

Gauff vs Sakkari: Head-to-Head

Here in the H2H, the world no.9 leads the race over the no.3. Maria Sakkari has won 4 out of their previous 7 encounters in the Tour. Their first meeting was at the 2020 Cincinnati Open, where the Greek player defeated the American player by 6-1,6-3. However, in the latest encounter, Coco Gauff had the last laugh defeating Sakkari by 6-2,6-4 at the China Open’s QF round. 

Who’ll dominate in their 8th meeting? It took Coco Gauff only 94 minutes to seal the deal against Yuan in the QF. Looking at their current form, this match surely looks to be going much deeper than that. 

Prediction: Keep your firecrackers ready to celebrate the victory of the Delray Beach resident

After successfully escaping the bee invasion on Stadium 2 in her previous match. Coco Gauff looks favorite to defend her castle from a Greek player’s invasion. The 20YO American has an 83% win percentage so far this season (won 16 out of her 19 matches). She has dropped only one set in this tournament and has won 69 of her matches so far with a win-loss record of 16-3 on hard courts.

Maria Sakkari has been defeated only 4 times this season. She has a solid win-loss record in the last ten years, having won 60% of her matches (329-216) and a 9-4 record on the hard courts this season. 

This is Coco Gauff’s first appearance in the SF of the BNP Paribas Open. Last year she made it to the QF, and she has surely improved her performance since then. Whereas, Maria Sakkari was the runner-up of the Indian Wells tournament in 2022 but could only make it to the R16 last year. Who’s your pick for this epic contest?

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