Daily Times

CINCINNATI: Coco Gauff captured the biggest title of her career on Sunday, powering past Karolina Muchova 6-3, 6-4 to win the WTA Cincinnati Open. The 19-year-old American rushed to her box to hug her team members after securing her first 1000-level title over French Open runner-up Muchova in just under two hours. Gauff was broken while serving for the straight-sets win, but two games later threw her hands up in joy after converting on her fourth match point. “This is unbelievable,” said Gauff, who became the youngest winner of the Cincinnati WTA title and the first teenager to win five career titles since Caroline Wozniacki in 2008-09. “Especially after Europe,” added the seventh seed, who was stung by a first-round exit at Wimbledon last month. “I had a lot of nights crying and trying to figure it all out but this is great.” Gauff said she arrived on the US hard courts knowing what she needed to do to improve. She fired 16 winners with the same number of unforced errors in the final, breaking Muchova five times.