Less is more: Camila Giorgi serves up straight set win over Coco Gauff

By the time a player has earned a third match point, the pulse is likely rising quickly, each one previously surrendered an exponential tension-raiser. In the quarterfinals of the National Bank Open, Camila Giorgi had lost the first on her serve at 5-4, 40-30. The second came and went two games later, this one at 6-5, 40-30. Giorgi’s opponent was Coco Gauff, the 17-year-American’s exceptional tenacity a major attribute in a rapid ascent to her current ranking of 24 in the world, 47 spots ahead of Giorgi.

On this sticky night in Montreal, the two entered a tiebreaker. Serving at 2-1, Gauff double-faulted. But then, there followed a slew of Gauff errors – misfired backhand, netted forehand, shanked forehand return, wide backhand. Leading 6-2, Giorgi now had far more margin than in those prior games. The end came quickly. Gauff charged forward, instantly trapped by a fine Giorgi pass that extracted a netted half-volley. Said Giorgi, “It was a great level I think.”

This match was one of the most well-composed efforts of her career. Prior to last month’s Olympics, Giorgi consulted with Craig O’Shannessy, the veteran strategist who of late has been helping several Italian players. If you’ve watched Giorgi over the years, you’d wonder if she’d care to listen to a man known for organizing the court into sections and match analysis into patterns. While O’Shannessy’s approach is as orderly as a chef constructing a bento box, Giorgi’s matches have long been more like potlucks, a melange of splattered drives, excessive power and errors galore.

But she and O’Shannessy have found a winning recipe. Why overhit to the corners when you can strike the ball as powerfully as Giorgi? Better to strike big shots to safe spots, often deep and much closer to the middle of the court. The strategy worked well in Tokyo. Giorgi reached the quarterfinals, along the way taking out Australian Open finalist Jennifer Brady and Wimbledon runner-up Karolina Pliskova.

Deep, hard and near the middle is a particularly good strategy against someone with Gauff’s first-rate mobility and creative ability to build points from the corners. Added to this was a strong emphasis on pounding deep and hard to Gauff’s more vulnerable forehand. Giorgi broke Gauff at 2-all and in the 40-minute first set never faced a break point.

And yet, as often as Gauff kept missing forehands, as erratically as she served, she continued to will herself into this match. Serving in the second set at 2-0, 15-30, Gauff struck a terrific serve down the T and eventually won the point with a deft drop shot and lob volley winner, the point-ender likely aided by her frequent commitment to playing doubles. Two points later, Gauff was half-way to levelling the match.

Still, despite the 3-0 lead, Gauff continued to scratch for form. Perhaps she still felt the lingering effects of the bout with COVID-19 that kept her from participating at last month’s Olympics. It also hadn’t helped that of Gauff’s three victories in Montreal, only her first was a fully completed match. The other two came when Anastasia Potopova retired when down 5-0 in the first set and Johanna Konta withdraw due to a knee injury.

With Gauff ahead in the second set, would Giorgi regress? Not tonight. Giorgi clawed her way back. She remained devoted to the game plan. At 4-all, she broke Gauff, taking the last two points by once again extracting forehand errors. That was the first of four straight service breaks. Match point number one: Giorgi wide with a backhand. Match point number two: massive deceleration on a routine forehand. Perhaps indeed, Gauff would find a way to take it into a third.

But in the tiebreaker, Giorgi stayed steady. “I think I'm very consistent in all the parts of the court,” she said. “In the baseline I'm just solid. Serve, too. So I think I'm playing good.” Maybe now, at the age of 29, Giorgi is seeing that to win matches she needn’t be great. Just better enough. Andre Agassi learned a similar lesson when he began to work with Brad Gilbert. Giorgi’s fate remains uncertain, but at least efforts like tonight’s win over Gauff make her far more likely to compete effectively rather than erratically.