Coco Gauff Surprised Herself With Comeback Over Iva Jovic

Saving the match point was the turning point in the match, but Gauff had almost given up at that point. She admitted in her post-match press conference to already hearing the criticism that would follow the match.

"I mean, honestly, on that match point, my head was almost like to the locker room to be honest," Gauff said with a laugh. "I was like, 'Well, I'm gonna hear a lot about this one.'"

Gauff added, "And then after, I kept, I don't know, I just was able to get through it, and then I think she maybe dropped a little bit her level, when she had the lead. So was able to help me, like, get back into the match. Honestly, I was thinking about my match in Dubai, and I like saved like five or six against (Elise) Metens. So I was like, maybe I can do it again today."

The importance of this clay court season campaign is not lost on Gauff. She lost points after failing to return to the Madrid Open final, and will need to make the Italian Open final to avoid losing more points. From there, Gauff must defend 2,000 points at Roland Garros as she looks to defend her title from the 2025 French Open.

Gauff is currently the WTA World No. 4 with a singles record of 22-8 with zero titles. She will face the eighth-seeded Mirra Andreeva tomorrow, May 12. Andreeva has looked strong in Rome after losing a heartbreaking battle to Marta Kostyuk in the Madrid Open final last week.

The Italian Open runs through May 17. After that, clay court court season continues full steam ahead into the French Open later this month.