Coco Gauff beats Wang for 2nd career title and 1st on clay

American teenager Coco Gauff stormed to her second career singles title as she comfortably dispatched Wang Qiang 6-1, 6-3 at the Emilia-Romagna Open in her first clay-court final on Saturday.

The 17-year-old Gauff needed just 74 minutes to beat her Chinese opponent in Parma.

She won more than three-quarters of her first-service points and fended off each of the four break points she faced against the 48th-ranked Wang.

Gauff, who reached her first semifinals on clay at the Italian Open last week, dropped just one set in Parma en route to victory. She is gearing up for the French Open, which starts May 30.

She has won 20 of her last 26 matches on tour. In contrast, she won 21 matches in the whole of 2019 and 2020 combined.

Gauff won her only previous final in Lienz, Austria, in 2019.

If Gauff wins the doubles title with Caty McNally later Saturday, she will become the youngest player to complete the singles/doubles sweep in nearly 17 years, since Maria Sharapova won both titles in Birmingham in 2004. That was just 92 days after Gauff was born.