Elina Svitolina beats Coco Gauff for third time in a row to claim Italian Open title

But just as at February’s Dubai Tennis Championships, where Svitolina lost a second-set tiebreak but reset and won, she snatched back the momentum midway through the third set. Svitolina ultimately reeled off five straight games to flip a 1-2 deficit and surge across the finish line — though not before some tension. With Svitolina serving for the match at 5-2 in the third set, Gauff earned four more chances to break her serve and begin a climb back.

On her third match point, Svitolina dug a ball out of the corner, chased one down near the service line, then charged the net and blocked the final ball past Gauff with a desperation stab. Svitolina had out-Gauffed Gauff.

Waiting for the trophy ceremony, Gauff sat with her face in her hands. It was her second consecutive loss in a final, following a defeat to world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka at the Miami Open, also in three sets.

As disappointing as the loss was, Gauff could find a silver lining in recent history. She lost the Italian Open final last year, to Jasmine Paolini. Three weeks later, she won the French Open for the first time.

“I definitely feel the momentum going into the French Open,” Gauff said during the trophy ceremony.

This year, she has shown a similar pattern, making the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, where Svitolina beat her with ease, before playing unevenly through February and March, and then rounding into form through the clay season. Saturday in Rome, the errors were simply too numerous: She made 67 unforced ones against Svitolina.

Over the past 12 days, Svitolina announced herself as another player to be reckoned with in Paris. On her way to the Rome final, Svitolina beat Elena Rybakina, Iga Świątek, and finally Gauff, the world No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4. She will arrive at Roland Garros for the second Grand Slam of the year as a player who none of the top contenders, Świątek and Gauff chief among them, will want to face.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Tennis, Women's Tennis

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