Coco Gauff of USA and Elina Svitolina of Ukraine pose with their trophies after playing in the Women's singles final match during the 2024 Women's ASB Classic at ASB Tennis Centre. Photo: Hannah Peters
Coco Gauff did it properly this time around.
Taking nothing away from her ASB Classic victory last year but this one was outside in the sunshine where everyone could see not just Gauff's tournament win, but just how good the world number three is.
Her 6-7(4) 6-3 6-3 victory over Elina Svitolina was achieved in front of a bumper crowd, after Gauff had made Stanley Street her second home this week.
"It's better," she said of how she felt comparing to winning last year.
"It's more fun to play, on the indoor courts it's hard to be electric. The fans enjoy it seeing us play and it shows that women's tennis is thriving and can only go upwards."
Gauff had barely been troubled in the lead up to the final.
"Some of the matches in this tournament had been going pretty easily," she said with the tournament trophy sitting next to her on the table after her match.
"So, it was cool to see how I'd react under pressure. I'm really happy with the mental fight I showed out there today. Obviously, there's some things I can improve on, but overall I'm happy with how I played this week.
Coco Gauff of USA celebrates with the trophy after winning the Women's singles final match against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine during the 2024 Women's ASB Classic. Photo: Hannah Peters
"If you're playing a Slam, you're going to have to win one of those matches not playing your best, and I think I did that this week."
The result was the first time she had dropped a set at Stanley Street this week, but that was because she was up against a serious quality opponent in Elina Svitolina. While Gauff was right to mention the relative ease of her draw, Svitolina did it the hard way - drawing Caroline Woziacki and Emma Raducanu in her first two matches.
The world number 25 came out firing in the final, picking up where she left off in her semi-final performance and taking the first set in a tiebreak, however a combination of Gauff's ruthlessness and a few injury complaints hampered Svitolina's brave effort.
"Of course I believed I could win, what's the point of going on the court if you don't, but in the mornings I could barely lift my legs," Svitolina admitted.
"I cannot complain. It's upsetting that I couldn't win the match, but I left everything out there."
Svitolina's been described as a 'fighter' so much this week that for anyone else it would lose meaning. Not so in her case because representing Ukraine right now carried with it a great deal more than what the average athlete has to deal with, so really every utterance of term is very apt.
"I've got many messages, still getting many more. They watch, they support, I get tagged in posts and stories of people waking up and watching … they are telling me that it brings a little moment of bright in their days. Some days are very tough. This really fills my heart with a lot of warmth and I draw so much motivation out of this situation.
"It's sad that I couldn't win to be bring the big trophy back to my home country, but really it's about fighting spirit and enjoying the big fights. Hopefully there will be more opportunities."
It was that sort of thing, alongside Gauff's exceptional maturity and very American level of professionalism that leaves such an impression.
Tennis perhaps stands as the undying marker for women's sports given its long history and high profile, with Gauff on the verge of cracking into superstardom if she can continue winning Grand Slam tournaments.
Will she come back? That is the big question as Gauff jets off to Melbourne to have a tilt at the Australian Open, but her loyalty to the ASB Classic already in her young career cannot be faulted.
Gauff is a deserving champion, with an important part of her journey taking place right here in New Zealand.
