Before the Cincinnati Open clash against two-time slam queen Coco Gauff, Italian star Jasmine Paolini was hardly confident about her chances. Despite being victorious in their last meeting in Rome, Paolini was not sure if she would be able to pull this off. “It is tough to play here. You know it’s so different here, it’s so fast,” she said, referring to the hard court. But on Friday, the Italian bested the World No. 2 again, this time in a thrilling comeback with a score line of 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. Now, it’s going to be Paolini in the semis. And Gauff? Well, she has invited an inevitable threat to herself. The six-time Grand Slam winner, Iga Swiatek.

In a crucial quarterfinal clash, Paolini managed to topple Gauff in a cliffhanger battle. After the American snatched the first set, Paolini leveled the scores before confirming her semifinal ticket in Cincinnati, her third WTA 1000 semifinal this year, as her opponent hit 19 double faults. Notably, the Italian star’s win came despite a minor scare in the third set, courtesy of a twisted ankle while hitting a forehand, which was quickly resolved after a visit from her trainer before the next game. While Gauff could’ve taken advantage of the situation, she served Paolini three double faults, resulting in a 2-0 lead instead. The US phenom also struggled with consistency: She made 62 unforced errors and 16 double faults in the 2-hour, 3-minute match.

Paolini, on the other hand, is now 3-2 in the H2H tally against Gauff, who’s been a former title winner at the event in 2023, after defeating Karolina Muchova in the summit clash. Unfortunately, that’s not all. Gauff’s quarterfinal loss may have hurt her even more than she had expected. Reason? Well, the game of rankings. Right now, Gauff is placed second on the WTA rankings list, but she may lose this position by next week. And it’s Swiatek who could make it happen. The Polish has made it to her maiden Cincinnati semifinal after she bested Anna Kalinskaya in the quarterfinals. Now, if the six-time major winner, who’s No. 3 right now, beats her semifinal opponent, Elena Rybakina, and then wins the summit clash, too, she will become No. 2 while dethroning Gauff.

Gauff has 7,669 ranking points at the moment compared to Swiatek’s 6,933 . However, in case of the latter clinching the trophy in Cincinnati, she will gain 1,000 additional points—enough to push the American off her current spot.

But guess what? Gauff’s got another reason to worry about.

Against Paolini, her biggest weakness also surfaced, once again, leading her to an unexpected exit from the event. It may haunt her going into the US Open, too.

Coco Gauff’s double-fault nightmare resurfaces ahead of the US Open

In case you missed keeping track of stats, Coco Gauff committed 16 double faults against Jasmine Paolini in the QF battle. Paolini restricted the count to just two. Simply put, the American WTA star has failed to overcome her problem of landing inaccurate first serves.

According to OptaAce, Gauff seems to be competing against herself in 2025 when it comes to committing double faults. Back in March, at the Indian Wells, she ended up with 38. Then in Rome, the figure increased to 42. Earlier this month, at the Canadian Open in Montreal, she delivered a worrying result. In just three matches, Gauff committed 43 double faults.

Speaking of the campaign in Cincinnati, Gauff committed eight DF in her opening match against Xinyu Wang. Then, against Lucia Bronzetti, the American improved it somehow and kept the figure at just three. However, the problem became out of control again as the count touched 16 on Friday against Paolini, reaching the total at 27.

Clearly, Gauff needs to do something regarding this growing weakness. At the US Open, she will struggle a lot in case her opponents try to exploit this aspect during her serves. Do you think she can, though? Share your thoughts with us.