Coco Gauff Demolishes Marta Kostyuk at the Cincinnati Open. And Chris Evert's Advice Is Why.

Coco Gauff just gave Marta Kostyuk a 70-minute masterclass at the 2026 Cincinnati Open — and she did it on the exact court where her name is already engraved on a trophy. The final score was 6-2, 6-2. The message was unmistakable. And the secret behind the performance? It started with a text message from a tennis legend who kept telling Gauff to do one thing differently — until she finally listened.

Here are six receipts that break down exactly what happened, why it happened, and what it means heading into the US Open.

Receipt 1: Setting the Scene — Friday Night in Cincinnati

The stage was P&G Stadium Court in Cincinnati, Ohio — the same hardcourt where Gauff won her first Cincinnati Open title back in 2023. Fourth-seeded Coco Gauff versus tenth-seeded Marta Kostyuk — a two-time Grand Slam semifinalist who had come into the match red hot off a comeback win over Mirra Andreeva.

On paper, this had battle written all over it. Their head-to-head sat at 3-2 in Gauff's favor, but three of their five previous meetings had gone to three sets, including a deciding-set tiebreak at the 2024 Stuttgart tournament. This matchup had a history of grind. What happened instead was something entirely different.

And before a single ball was struck — there was a little Black girl tossing the coin at center court. In a sport where Black faces at that level are still rare enough to stop you in your tracks, that image alone felt like a sign.

Receipt 2: The Match Itself — A Statement Performance

Coco Gauff won 6-2, 6-2 in exactly 70 minutes, taking 12 of the 16 games played and outpointing Kostyuk 61 to 41. Six total breaks of serve. Zero tiebreaks needed — because she never let it get that close.

The lopsidedness of the scoreline requires some explanation, because Kostyuk is a legitimate top-ten player who does not typically fold. What unraveled her was her second serve. She won only 21% of her second-serve points and racked up eight double faults across the match. Gauff, meanwhile, had exactly one double fault. That contrast tells you everything about which player showed up locked in and which one came apart under sustained pressure.

Gauff's win was her 38th of the 2026 season and moved her to 12 wins in her last 14 matches. That is not a hot streak. That is a player hitting a sustained level of excellence at exactly the right time of year — with the US Open weeks away.

Receipt 3: How It Ended — The Tactical Shift You Need to Clock

The final point said everything about how Gauff has been playing lately. She finished the match with a backhand return winner — her sixth service break of the night — aggressive, decisive, and on her terms.

Since dropping the opening set of her Cincinnati opener against Liudmila Samsonova, Gauff has won six straight sets. She has been coming to the net more frequently and more decisively than at any point in recent years. That tactical shift — playing forward, being aggressive, refusing to let rallies extend into territory her opponents are comfortable with — is a major part of what has made this Cincinnati run look so different from previous years.

This is not accidental. This is a player who made a deliberate adjustment and is now seeing it pay off in real time on one of the most important hardcourt stages before the US Open.

Receipt 4: The On-Court Interview — Coco in Her Bag at Home

Gauff's post-match energy on court told you everything about her comfort level in Cincinnati. When asked what makes this tournament bring out the best in her, she lit up talking about the crowd — and then laughed about a fan shouting their love for her from the stands.

"Shout out to — I don't know who was saying 'I'm in love with the Coco' — but I like that one," she told the crowd, grinning.

This is a player who knows this building. Who knows this court. Who has already won here and carries the confidence of a champion defending territory that already belongs to her. That comfort — that sense of being at home — translates directly into how she plays. And Friday night, it showed in every game.

Receipt 5: The Secret — Chris Evert's Texts and the Net Rush Revolution

This is the receipt that changes how you watch everything Gauff does from here forward.

In her post-match press conference, Gauff revealed the tactical story behind her surge: "I didn't realize how good I was at it until Wimbledon. Everyone has been telling me to come to the net more. Actually, Chris Evert has been texting me sometimes to come to the net more. And I tell her yeah, I'm going to, and then I just don't. I finally did at Wimbledon and I won so many points that way."

Let that sink in. Tennis legend and 18-time Grand Slam champion Chris Evert was privately texting Coco Gauff — pushing her to attack the net. And Gauff kept saying she would. And then kept not doing it. Until Wimbledon, where she finally committed to it and discovered she was already great at it.

That is a game change that was sitting inside her the whole time, waiting for her to use it. And now that she has unlocked it — now that net rushing is a genuine weapon in her arsenal — she is harder to play against than she has ever been. Opponents who were already struggling to handle her from the baseline now have to defend against a player who can take the net away from them too.

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Receipt 6: The History Books — This Is a Defending Champion on Her Court

Back in 2023, Gauff made history at this exact tournament — becoming the youngest woman ever to win the Cincinnati Open title at 19 years old. She beat world number one Iga Swiatek in the semifinal — the first time she had ever beaten Swiatek in eight career meetings — and then took down Karolína Muchová in the final. That victory also made her the first teenager since Caroline Wozniacki to collect five career titles before turning 20.

That run in 2023 makes her the fourth player in the Open Era to reach multiple Cincinnati Open semifinals before turning 23, joining Linda Tuero, Vera Zvonareva, and Evonne Goolagong. Among active full-time players, only Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka have made more WTA 1000 semifinals than Gauff's 17.

When you watch her cruise through this draw right now, you are not watching a player trying to prove something in a new environment. You are watching a champion who knows exactly what winning this tournament requires — because she has already done it.

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What Stands Between Gauff and a Second Cincinnati Title

Gauff's semifinal opponent is Czech player Sara Bejlek — a 20-year-old unseeded player who stunned world number one Aryna Sabalenka earlier in the draw and then battled past Madison Keys 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) to punch her ticket to the semis. Bejlek said after the Keys win: "I believe in myself much more than I ever have before." That is an opponent with nothing to lose and everything to prove.

The question the tennis world is now asking: does Gauff's newly aggressive net rushing game translate against a red-hot underdog riding the biggest wave of her young career?

We know who we are rooting for. And given what we have seen from Coco Gauff over the past few weeks — at Wimbledon, in Cincinnati, and every match in between — the smart money is on the player whose name is already on the trophy.

Black girl magic is not luck. It is preparation meeting the moment. And Coco Gauff has been preparing for this exact moment for her entire career.

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