By the numbers: Gauff pulls away from Bejlek to return to Cincinnati final
Coco Gauff raced into her third final of 2026 with a 6-4, 6-1 win over unseeded Sara Bejlek in the semifinals of the Cincinnati Open on Saturday night -- setting a championship showdown that has not happened in the Queen City in five decades.
"I was just trying to stay focused," Gauff said after the 1 hour and 16-minute match, her first meeting against 20-year-old Bejlek. "Sometimes you don't know if you should be aggressive and risk making mistakes. I was just trying to stay focused on each ball."
After racing out to a 4-1 lead, Gauff was reeled in by Bejlek to 4-4 in the opening set, with the Czech was bidding for a sixth straight high-profile win in Cincinnati. But she couldn't find the magic that took her to upsets of a trio of former Grand Slam winners -- Barbora Krejcikova, World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, and No. 20 seed Madison Keys -- among others on the way to her first WTA 1000 semifinal. Gauff ultimately pulled away to win eight of the last nine games to take victory, advance to a final against good friend and fellow American Jessica Pegula, and become the eighth woman since 2004 to reach more than one Cincinnati Open final.
Other notable numbers from Gauff's win included:
2: The final between Gauff and Pegula is just the second all-American final in tournament history, after Rosie Casals and Nancy Richey played each other in 1970.
3: Gauff has now reached three WTA 1000 finals this year, which is the most on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz.
8: Gauff has now reached eight WTA 1000 finals in her career. Only Serena Williams (18) and Pegula (9) have more since 2009.
9: Gauff's last nine final appearances have come at WTA 1000 level or higher.
10: Gauff went 10-for-10 on points won behind her first serve in the second set.
19: Gauff is now 19-2 in her last 21 matches against left-handed players.
Gauff will will try to become the third player since 2004 to win the Cincinnati Open at least twice, joining Serena Williams (2014, 2015) and Victoria Azarenka (2013, 2020) when she faces Pegula on Sunday, whom she has beaten four times in nine career meetings. But Gauff won the only previous match between the two for a trophy, in Wuhan last fall.
"[Winning the title] would be great, because I've had a couple of semi[finals] and finals this year," Gauff said. "I'm not putting too much weight on it. I feel like I'm really confident in my game. It's just another challenge for me to get better."
