Coco hopes to snap hometown jinx at Miami Open

By Harvey Fialkov

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – It seemed like yesterday that Coco Gauff was the ‘it girl’, the teenage prodigy destined to follow in the footsteps of 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena Williams.

Move over Coco, 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva has stolen the global spotlight.

The lanky, 5-foot-9 teen combines a versatile arsenal on the court, followed by endearing interviews and post-match speeches to the crowd.

“I would like to thank myself for fighting until the end and for always believing in me and for never quitting and I tried to run like a rabbit today,’’ Andreeva joked in her trophy acceptance speech on Sunday after capturing back-to-back Masters 1000 titles in Doha and Indian Wells where she knocked off top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.

Andreeva enters the Miami Open Masters 1000 presented by Itau on a 12-match winning streak and while she’s only seeded 11^th, her ranking has soared to No. 6 in the world. She is in the third quadrant with eighth-seeded American Emma Navarro.

It has actually been six years since Gauff, then 15, made her WTA Tour debut at the Miami Open, where she reached the fourth round after defeating her hero Venus Williams to trumpet her arrival.

While Gauff has gone on to win 10 titles, including the US Open and Cincinnati Masters 1000 in 2023 where she reached a career-high rank of No. 2 in the world (now No. 3) with more than $23 million in on-court earnings, she hasn’t quite lived up to the mountainous expectations placed on her broad shoulders by tennis pundits, fans and especially herself.

Since her tidal wave-like splash in Miami, the proud Delray Beach native has barely created a ripple in her hometown tournament, failing to surpass the aforementioned fourth-round appearance.

On Monday afternoon in the second-level concourse at Hard Rock Stadium, a refreshed Gauff, who turned 21 last week, was asked if she had any advice for Andreeva, who also dispatched second-ranked Iga Swiatek (2022 Miami champion) in the semis and Elena Rybakina – a finalist in Miami the past two years – at Indian Wells.

“She’s doing great and doesn’t need much advice,’’ said Gauff, who’s seeded third here and will play either Petra Kvitova or Sofia Kenin – two Grand Slam champions – in the second round.

“When I was in her position, I never really liked people to give me public advice. Just say it to my face. … I’m only four years older than her so there’s not much I could tell her that she doesn’t already know. … She’s a talented player, has an all-court game and is confident.”

Despite a recent slump, Gauff remains confident that she can finally make a deep run at a tournament she grew up attending. Since winning the United Cup on Jan. 5, Gauff has lost in the quarters in the Australian Open, fell in her opening matches at consecutive 1000s in Dubai and Doha, before losing to 58^th-ranked Belinda Bencic in the round of 16 at Indian Wells.

“I don’t think it’s pressure for me regarding playing here or somewhere else,’’ Gauff said. “There’s going to be people supporting me. I’ve always had to play tough players here. It’s a tough tournament coming off the part of the season with four 1000s in a row. It’s a bit difficult but I feel really refreshed. Even though I lost early at Indian Wells it’s kind of giving me more time to hopefully get better and have a successful week here.”

Gauff, who has always been wise beyond her years, turned 21 last week and while she says she feels “middle-aged” in tennis terms, she’s still that bubbly kid at heart who is excited about playing her new escape game birthday present and by announcing her second shoe deal with New Balance: “Coco Delray”.

“Because I started so young, I think people forget my age so maybe I’m not given the same amount of grace others are given on tour,’’ said Gauff, whose first shoe was “Coco CGI.”

The ad campaign features her maternal grandmother Yvonne Lee Odom, a civil rights pioneer and school teacher who desegregated Palm Beach county schools as a student.

“I still feel young in life. Honestly, I guess on tour I feel middle aged. It has been six years since I’ve been on tour, but I’m still 21, which also [means] I make 21-year-old mistakes. I should be there at 21, but most of the girls doing well right now and striving are older.”

Gauff gets frustrated when after losing a few matches in a row, people and players think there’s, “something personally wrong with me.”

“I’m like chilling,’’ Gauff said with her ever-present giggle. “I’m honestly not happy with the past few results but it’s just one of those things. In my whole history of my career I’ve had ups and downs … If I wasn’t a top-5 player it wouldn’t be a conversation. That comes along with being at the top. You’re expected to win, and I expect myself to win.

“There’s good weeks and bad weeks. That’s just life in general. I’d love to be perfect and perform perfectly all the time but unfortunately, it’s not like that. So, I strive for perfection, knowing that I won’t reach it, but I try to get as close to it as possible.”

Despite the naysayers criticizing her inconsistent forehand and occasional service yips, Gauff is, “very happy with my career.”

“I’m a very future mind-setted person and a goal-driven person,’’ she said. “There’s a lot I want to do. I’d say I’m happy with what I have done, but obviously not satisfied.”

Like Andreeva, wild-card entrant Darwin Blanch is 17 and while he’s only ranked 685^th, he’s hoping to become the ‘it boy’ on the men’s side.

Blanch, a native of nearby Boca Raton, who has become a world traveler with his tennis-crazed family and is now living and training at Juan Carlos Ferrero’s academy in Spain along with world No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz. He outlasted 32-year-old. 119^th-ranked Taro Daniel of Japan, 6-7 (8), 6-0, 6-3 in a first-round qualifying match on a blustery Court 2.

“The main thing that made me win today was my attitude and competing, so I’m super proud of that,’’ said Blanch, who speaks English, Spanish, Chinese and Thai after living in Thailand, Taiwan and Argentina for several years.

Blanch’s facial and game-style resemblance to American Ben Shelton (ranked 14^th) is uncanny, and many people refer to him as, ‘Mini-Ben’. Both are emotional lefthanders with bushy hairdos, booming serves, two-handed backhands and powerful inside-out forehands.

“I’ve been getting that for three years now,’’ laughed Blanch, whose older brothers Ulises and Dali, along with sister Krystal [Wake Forest] are all pursuing pro tennis careers. “I’m also good friends with him.”

After Daniel, ranked 58^th in 2024, eked out a 10-8 tiebreaker in the first set, Blanch reset and dominated the rest of the match. He served eight aces and won 84 percent of his first serves, including a perfect 15-of-15 in the final set.

When asked about Andreeva, Blanch grinned just like Shelton.

“That’s what I’m trying to do, so hopefully this is the start of something great,’’ said Blanch, who is 0-2 in ATP Tour events, including straight-set losses to Rafa Nadal at the Madrid Masters 1000 and to Tomas Machac in Miami last year. “I’ll keep on focusing on myself, concentrating, keep on winning and see how it goes.”

Blanch needs to defeat Chun-Hsin Tseng of Taiwan on Tuesday to become one of 12 qualifiers to get into the main draw.  At the least, Blanch will be able to communicate with his opponent.

Remarkably, only one qualifier will be on the top half of the draw and 11 will be placed in the bottom half, which also includes seeds, Alcaraz (2), Daniil Medvedev (7), Stefanos Tsitsipas (9), Caspar Ruud (5), Tommy Paul (12) and Novak Djokovic (4), who’s bidding to become the all-time Miami Open champion.

He’s currently tied with Andre Agassi with six Miami titles, but none since 2016. He hasn’t played here since 2019 but is hoping to rebound from his first three-match losing streak in seven years.

The 37-year-old Serb will probably face his first test in a potential third-round matchup with young American Alex Michelsen or Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in the sweet 16.

Joining Blanch in the second round of qualifying is fellow American Ethan Quinn, who after dropping the opening set went on to upset quirky Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Quinn, a 21-year-old Californian who has relocated to Boca Raton, smacked 10 aces and saved 8-of-10 break points to oust the 36-year-old southpaw, whose ranking has plummeted from a career-high 17 to 145 over the past 14 months. The 6-foot-3 Fresno native needed four match points after blowing a sitter volley on his first.

“I had to trust my game, using my forehand, dictating the court, making sure I was accelerating through the ball, making sure I didn’t play too aggressive or too passive,’’ said Quinn, ranked a career-high 125, who is coached by Brian Garber and also Brad Stine, Paul’s coach. “It’s not my career-high [ranked] win but the trickiness that Adrian provides on court and how high he’s gotten ranked I’d say it’s one of my most impressive wins.”

The ladies completed their qualifying rounds and making it through the 128-player draw is American Taylor Townsend, who edged Sonay Kartal (8^th seed) 7-5 in the third set. Townsend is ranked 90^th in singles but second in doubles. She owns three Grand Slam doubles titles, including the Australian Open this year with Czech partner Katerina Siniakova.

Also making the draw is Claire Liu of Rolling Hills, Calif., Anna Bondar of Hungary, Kimberly Birrell of Austria, Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania, Aoi Ito of Japan, Lucrezia Stefanini of Italy, Croatian American Barnarda Pera (7^th seed), 19-year-old Czech Linda Fruhvirtova, Swiss miss Rebecca Masarova, Greet Minnen of Belgium and Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine, who knocked out the slicing queen Tatjana Maria of Germany now living in Palm Beach Gardens.