Coco Gauff had a fairly successful start to the year heading into the clay court season. With the French Open 2024 set to begin in merely five weeks, Gauff will aim for a positive result at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. However, lifting the title in Stuttgart will be difficult as she will have to potentially face the most number of top 5 seeded players.
Being the World No.3, Coco Gauff has been placed in the bottom half of the draw. The #3 seed will also be receiving a first-round bye. Gauff’s campaign will begin on Wednesday afternoon with her second round match against Sachia Vickery. Following an inevitable win against her compatriot, Gauff will enter the quarterfinals of the WTA 500 tournament.
Many tennis fans believe that Coco Gauff has got the easiest draw out of all top players and that has also made them accuse the tournament organisers and WTA to be biased towards the American. Since a long time, Gauff has been considered as the successor of Serena Williams but these latest claims of her being favored, have been blown out of proportion.
The 20-year-old will begin the tougher schedule of her draw on 18th April (Thursday), facing #5 Qinwen Zheng. While the two will be meeting for the first time in their careers in the quarterfinals in Germany, Zheng is no pushover, having made it to the Australian Open 2024 finals. So even if Gauff manages to pull off a win, the semifinals could be the final before the final for her as Aryna Sabalenka would be her projected opponent.
Luckily for Gauff, Sabalenka has not shown her hard court prowess yet on clay. So the American’s fans could expect her to make it to the finals and there, Iga Swiatek would mostly be waiting for her as she prepares to defend her 2023 title.
But if Coco Gauff wins that final, it would be her 4th title if WTA 500 and WTA 1000 titles are considered together. And more importantly, Gauff would end her 3-year wait of winning a clay court title, having last won in Italy back in 2021.
This is what Coco Gauff’s path to the finals looks like:
First Round – Bye
Second Round – Sachia Vickery
Quarter-Finals – Qinwen Zheng
Semifinals – Aryna Sabalenka
Finals – Iga Swiatek
