Coco Gauff seems not closer to solving her biggest problem and she has a little over a month to find a solution ahead of the French Open. Gauff has beaten Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in their previous two meetings, but her serve let her down once again when the pressure was applied at 5-4 in their Stuttgart Open quarter-final. As has been the case throughout much of the last year and more, Gauff’s serve has been vulnerable to sudden dips and the two double faults she threw in to hand Paolini the first set were crucial to handing the initiative to her opponent.
Gauff was broken five times in a 6-4, 6-3 defeat that left Gauff to ponder whether her serving issues can be solved in time for her latest attempt to win on the clay courts of Roland Garros in the second Grand Slam of 2025 next month. A beaten finalist at the 2022 French Open, Gauff is at home on the clay, but it is hard to imagine her winning another major title unless she finds the key to controlling her service games.
“I think I played aggressively, and I was so consistent, not too many mistakes,” said Paolini. “I think I did a great match at the end. When I step on court, like hitting the ball strong, it’s what makes me enjoy playing tennis, you know. I like to kind of hit the ball so hard. So that made me feel joy.”
Gauff’s serving concerns have been a recurring problem for some time and the WTA website confirms she was No 1 on the list for double faults on the entire women’s tour in 2025. Prior to her matches in Stuttgart, Gauff has hit 121 double faults in her 18 matches, with Ashlyn Krueger in second place on the list (119 from 23 matches), and Marta Kostyuk in third place with 118 doubles in her 18 matches. By contrast, world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka had hit just 33 doubles faults in her 23 matches so far this year, with world No 2 Iga Swiatek throwing in 66 in her 27 matches.
Those figures confirm Gauff is giving away too many points to realistically compete with the biggest names in the women’s game and this latest defeat against an opponent she had beaten comfortably in their previous meeting in 2023 highlighted the scale of the problem. She has been averaging close to seven double faults per match and that has cost her in key moments, with her defeat against Paolini in Stuttgart another night when she was constantly under pressure to hold serve.
In Indian Wells last month, Gauff hit 21 double faults in her opening match against Moyuka Uchijima and also struck six in her final service game in her third round victory over Maria Sakkari. Now the issue continues to haunt her and while world No 4 Gauff has a strong rankings point lead over Madison Keys in the battle to secure a top four seeding for the French Open, she needs to find a solution to her service motion and the double fault issue if the former US Open champion is to be a major title contender once again.
Jasmine Paolini has finalized the semi-final lineup at the 2025 Stuttgart Open with Coco Gauff's disappointing season continuing into clay. The Italian sealed the win 6-4, 6-3 and will now face Aryna Sabalenka. Gauff is in the top 10 still in the WTA Race but hasn't kicked on after initially having a new coach bounce last season towards the end.
Paolini, who has recently split with long-time coach Renzo Furlan, is producing some of her best form for a long while with Roland Garros Final still to defend in just over a month. She has added Marc Lopez of Rafael Nadal coaching fame, so the Spaniard seems to be having an effect already. She is having a superb week and had to come through some adversity in order to do it, coming from 2-4 down to win the first set, 6-4, and she only lost three more games in the whole match.
It's a missed opportunity from Gauff, who has suffered a first loss to Paolini and, with Iga Swiatek now out, could've had a huge opportunity to make a statement, especially given that it is Alexandrova or Ostapenko in the final for the winner of the other tie between now Sabalenka and Paolini. So whoever seals it will be favorite to see off either based on ranking.
Gauff now moves onto Madrid hoping to rekindle her form and searching for more answers once more. Paolini, going into Sunday, will be looking to overturn another head-to-head that she hasn't performed that well in, albeit with wins previously. She is 4-2 down to Sabalenka, who has only played one match this week. She faced Elise Mertens, winning 6-4, 6-1.
After ball-mark drama, Sabalenka was ruthless as she eased through, and given that she still hasn't won a Porsche despite many attempts, will have her sights set on overturning Paolini. But what resistance can Paolini, who could add a buffer amid the points that will drop off over the next two Grand Slam tournaments, offer?
