Welcome to Take Five, a weekly series at USOpen.org recapping five of the biggest stories of the last week on the professional tennis circuit. Action continued on the American hard courts last week, where the WTA and ATP 500 event in Washington, D.C., was the biggest tournament on the calendar.
Gauff wins biggest title in D.C.
Coco Gauff won her first title on home soil and the fourth of her young career with a dominant run in Washington. The American did not lose a set on the way to her first WTA 500 crown, with a 6-2, 6-3 win against Maria Sakkari capping her run on Sunday.
The 19-year-old lost just 19 games in her four matches, knocking off fifth seed Belinda Bencic in the quarters and defending champ Liudmila Samsonova in the semis. She followed those two Top 20 wins by beating world No. 8 Sakkari for her second Top 10 win of the season, maintaining her position at No. 7 in the WTA rankings.
Gauff made sure to credit her new coach Pere Riba and consultant Brad Gilbert for her success in her first appearance since her opening-round loss to Sofia Kenin at Wimbledon.
"It's our first tournament as a full team," Gauff said in her victory speech. "I'm glad that we were able to make this result. I know those who were with me at Wimbledon, it was really tough a couple of weeks ago. We were all feeling it. I'm glad I was able to bounce back."
Tsitsipas scores first title of 2023 in Los Cabos
It was a perfect 10 for Stefanos Tsitsipas in Mexico. The Greek picked up his 10th ATP title by improving to 10-0 against Alex de Minaur with a win in Saturday's final at the Los Cabos ATP 250.
By winning his first hard-court title since 2020, Tsitsipas made the ideal start to his summer campaign on the surface.
"I will take the positives out of this week,” said the 24-year-old, who moved past Casper Ruud to No. 4 in the ATP rankings behind his run. “I had a few good matches here and I think it’s a good start to the swing."
De Minuar was denied a Mexican double, having won Acapulco earlier this season.
Thiem reaches home final, beaten by Baez
Dominic Thiem reached his first final since 2020 last week on home soil in Austria, stepping up his long climb back from wrist surgery with a stirring string of performances in Kitzbuhel.
The former world No. 3 came back from a set down to win three straight matches in front of his home fans. He saved the best for last, saving five match points in a 6-7(3), 7-5, 7-6(8) semifinal victory against Laslo Djere that lasted three-and-a-half hours.
Seeking his first ATP title since the 2020 US Open, the Austrian was beaten by Sebastian Baez in Saturday's final at the ATP 250. Despite the defeat, Thiem moved up 32 places to No. 84 in the ATP rankings with his four wins on the week.
Baez, who lost just one set on the week, is now a three-time ATP singles champ.
Hibino's title sweep
Japan's Nao Hibino took home both the singles and doubles titles in Prague. A lucky loser in the singles event, she won her third career title by beating fourth seed Linda Noskova in the final. In the doubles draw, she teamed with Georgia's Oksana Kalashnikova to win the WTA 250 event with the help of three match tiebreak wins, including in the final.
D.C. honor roll
Back in the United States, Great Britain's Daniel Evans claimed the D.C. singles crown by winning 10 straight sets after dropping the opening set of his campaign. The ninth seed knocked off three seeded opponents in the final three rounds: second seed Frances Tiafoe, fifth seed Grigor Dimitrov and 12th seed Tallon Griekspoor.
The Washington men's doubles title was won by Argentines Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni, who edged Americans Mackenzie McDonald and Ben Shelton, 6-7(4), 6-2, 10-6 in the final.
Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva took the women's doubles crown, beating Alexa Guarachi and Monica Niculescu, 6-4, 6-4, in the title round.
