The world No. 4 is through to her second WTA 1000 final of the year, having finished runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka at the Miami Open. Gauff put together her most complete performance of the tournament against Cirstea, avoiding going three sets for the first time since her opening win in the second round over Tereza Valentova.
“In those bigger points, I was able to be more steady and make it physical, not let her dictate. When you let her dictate, it’s really hard,” she commented. “I think my first-serve percentage was pretty high, so that was pretty important.”
Interjected Amritraj, “Almost 80 percent first serves in.”
“Oh cool, yay,” said a pleased Gauff, before adding, “I felt the difference when I was serving today versus my night match against Mirra. I was like,’ oh my serves are actually doing some damage on the court.’”
