Fifteen times this year, Coco Gauff has trailed by a set in a match. Eight times, she’s come back to win—including three straight times this week at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
So, what’s the key to being the WTA’s comeback queen?
“For me, it’s [about] just not leaving the court with regrets,” Gauff said after a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over Mirra Andreeva on Tuesday, her fifth win in five career meetings against the teenager.
While Gauff is usually the one erasing big deficits to win—she trailed Solana Sierra 3-0 in the decider in the third round, and saved a match point against compatriot Iva Jovic en route to winning in the fourth—she nearly got a taste of her own medicine against Andreeva. After dropping her first set in the last nine played in their head-to-head, Gauff opened up a 5-1 lead in the final set after racing through the second.
From there, Andreeva won three straight games, and saved two match points, to get the set back on serve. In a titanic final game, that lasted seven deuces, Andreeva had five chances to knot the score at 5-5 before Gauff wrapped up the win on her fifth match point,
