Coco Gauff sends confident warning to Indian Wells rivals after on-court interview gaffe
Coco Gauff earned a dominant victory on her 20th birthday.
Coco Gauff sent a statement to the rest of the field in Indian Wells as she celebrated her 20th birthday with a dominant victory. The world No. 3 eased past Elise Mertens for the loss of just two games. But she was unable to address the crowd as there was a blunder with her on-court interview when the microphone failed to work, leaving the interviewer forced to climb up and use the umpire's chair.
Gauff entered her 20s on a high, needing just 66 minutes to book her spot in the quarter-final of Indian Wells. The American celebrated by signing a two and a zero with her fingers to mark the occasion. But she couldn't give an on-court interview after a blunder with the microphone.
Instead, emcee Krasny decided to stand on the umpire's chair and address Gauff on behalf of the fans as the US Open champion stood at her bench and watched. "My microphone is not working so I’m going to climb up here and hope I don’t fall. Coco Gauff, can I just say to you, happy birthday young lady," he started.
"I would make you climb up here to do an interview but I’ll spare you. We just want to say on behalf of everybody here, I know birthdays have been tricky the last few years but good things happen when you turn 20."
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The resident Indian Wells interviewer also had a message from the crowd, adding: "We love you here in southern California, we love you at the BNP Paribas Open, we’re proud of you and we wish you the best birthday of your life young lady." Although Gauff didn't get to speak on the court, she did join the Sky Sports team immediately after her 6-0 6-2 win.
And the third seed was feeling confident as she analysed her performance against Mertens. "Definitely just how I played, I played really well today. I feel really good," Gauff said when asked what she took from the match.
"Best win of the tournament so far and obviously happy to get a win on my birthday." Gauff is now on a 19-match winning streak on American soil, as she won titles in Washington, Cincinnati and the US Open last summer.
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Asked how close she was to her US Open-winning form, Gauff confessed that she thought she played better in her other American tournaments. But the birthday girl made it clear that she was near her peak - making it tough to beat her.
She added: "Honestly, I felt like my best tennis that I played last year was through Cincinnati and DC, those two tournaments. So I guess I’ll compare it to that.
"I feel like I’m close to that level. Obviously when I’m playing like that, it’s very hard to beat me. And then US Open, I think I played well in moments but especially that last match, it was just more of a mental win for me."