Coco Gauff cruises to Auckland title

Playing first tournament as top seed, Coco Gauff cruised past Spanish qualifier Rebecca Masarova 6-1 6-1 and rolled through to the ASB Classic champion’s trophy without dropping a set.

The 18-year-old Gauff won her third WTA title, and first since 2021, after beating Tatjana Maria, former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, Zhu Lin, Danka Kovinic and finally the world No.130 Masarova, who advanced to her first WTA final after victories over Karolina Muchova and former US Open champion Sloane Stephens this week in Auckland.

The world No.7 Gauff’s previous two titles came on the clay courts of Parma in 2021 and hard courts of Linz in 2019.