Coco Gauff explains what she improved to beat Maria Sakkari at Indian Wells as she used the court conditions to her advantage

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Coco Gauff explains what she did to produce a much improved performance at the Indian Wells Masters.

The American won her opening match against Moyuka Uchijima but it was a far from convincing performance.

Gauff struck 74 unforced errors during the three-set match, but she was far more solid against Maria Sakkari, who beat her at Indian Wells a year ago.

Coco Gauff stepped up her game in the first set tiebreak and she lost two more games for the rest of the match before securing another victory on home soil.

How did Coco Gauff improve her game to beat Maria Sakkari at Indian Wells?

There was plenty of reaction to Gauff’s unsatisfactory performance against Uchijima, who beat Emma Raducanu to book her spot in round two.

She knew she would have to raise her level to beat Sakkari, who had five of their previous eight meetings.

The 20-year-old’s 7-6(1), 6-2 victory will certainly give her more confidence heading into her next match, when she will play against the dangerous Belinda Bencic.

Explaining how she raised her level to beat Sakkari, Gauff told Tennis Channel: “The improvements that were made were definitely specific to the previous match.

“I felt just playing with a bit more margin and trying to be aggressive when I could. Honestly today I felt like it wasn’t needed sometimes. Last time I played her I felt like she dictated a lot of the rallies.

“Today I was really kind of trying to let the court work for me I feel like the court is a bit bouncier so you kind of can’t expect to hit a winner sometimes because it is a bit slower, so sometimes you think it’s a winner and it’s not, so I think just trying to be patient and not outhit myself.”

Coco Gauff to face Belinda Bencic for the first time since the Australian Open

The road to Indian Wells glory only gets tougher for Gauff as she will face Belinda Bencic for a spot in the quarter-finals.

The Swiss player returned from maternity leave in 2025 and she has had a solid run so far this season.

Bencic won the Abu Dhabi title and reached the last 16 at the Australian Open, where she was beaten by Gauff in three sets.

Bencic will hope to gain some revenge on Gauff when they meet at Indian Wells, and she has the chance to level her head-to-head matchup at two wins apiece.