CORI ‘COCO’ Gauff's hype train was derailed by experienced Zarina Diyas in the opening round of the Citi Open in Washington D.C. on Tuesday (Jul 30).
The American teenage sensation was blown off the John Harris Court at the Rock Creek Park Tennis Center by Kazakhstan’s Diyas 6-4 6-2 after a wayward display that lacked her usual finesse.
With Gauff having blitzed her way through two qualifying matches, dropping just nine games in the process, to reach the Citi Open first round, she began as a firm favourite against Diyas.
Yet the 15-year-old made five double faults in the opening set, despite a pro-American crowd behind her, and was struggling to repeat her performances earlier in the tournament.
Diyas, the world no.84, was thriving at Washington's summer hard court classic and beautifully read her opponent's game to stay one step ahead throughout a one-sided second set with a range of powerful groundstrokes.
The 25-year-old, whose only career title came on hard court with the 2017 Japan Women's Open crown, had bowed out in the first round at Wimbledon whilst Gauff was grabbing the headlines for her shock success over US veteran Venus Williams.
Gauff's meteoric rise this month, following her breakthrough tournament at the All England Club where she became the youngest player to reach the last 16 since compatriot Jennifer Capriati in 1991, has resulted in endless hype.
But it should be pointed out that she has only played in two WTA Tour main draw tournaments before the Citi Open, having reached the 2nd round at March's Miami Open and produced the wow factor at Wimbledon.
The Citi Open serves as a warm-up event for the US Open, where Gauff will return as a wildcard entry to make her debut in the main draw.
She has history at New York's Flushing Meadows, having been crowned the youngest US Open Girls singles finalist in 2017 aged just 13.
And top-seeded Sloane Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion, was also upset in the Citi Open. In the first game of the day, the American - who was in the same quarter of the draw as Gauff - fell 6-2 7-5 to Sweden's Rebecca Peterson.
And Madison Keys, another US household name after she finished runner-up to Stephens in the US Open two years ago, was eliminated by rising American star 17-year-old Hailey Baptiste 7-6(4) 6-2.
The no.2 seed was pipped in a tie-break in a nervy opening set. But then simply fell apart as the tenacious teenager, making her WTA Tour debut in her hometown, reeled off five games on the bounce to claim a shock win over the former world no.7.
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