Coco Gauff has plenty of points to defend this clay season, and she is off to a perfect start at the Madrid Open.
Gauff won her opening match at the WTA 1000 tournament in straight sets versus Leolia Jeanjean, 6-3, 6-0.
The American reached the final of both the Madrid Open and the Italian Open last year before going on to win Roland Garros, meaning she is now protecting a total of 3300 WTA points across the three events in 2026.
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Statistically, clay is Gauff’s best surface, with the 22-year-old having tallied a win percentage of 74% on the dirt, compared to 71% on hard and 67% on grass.
Following her opening win in Madrid, former American player Coco Vandeweghe explained what makes the Roland Garros champion so good on clay.
Coco Vandeweghe analyses Coco Gauff’s clay-court game
Speaking on Tennis Channel, Vandeweghe said of Gauff: “She does everything well on the clay courts that you need to do well.
“You need to be able to move well and be able to transition out of the corners. Coco does that fantastically.
“It also doesn’t put as much pressure on her serve because she’s able to defend it that much better when it gets into a lot of second serve looks, and it makes the bounces really jump for Coco, which can help her forehand and off the ground.
“So everything that gets a little bit weaker when we get to the faster surface becomes her strength when we get to the clay courts.
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“We’ve seen in years past that she does get better as the season goes on. She hasn’t really ever started too well when it comes to Australian Open and then heading into the American swing of Indian Wells and Miami.
“I think Coco definitely needs to take a little bit of a breath and of course being that she’s a Grand Slam champion twice and defending champion at Roland Garros, it’s going to be win or it’s a fail in her mind because she’s won it before.”
Coco Gauff’s next opponent at the 2026 Madrid Open
After her comfortable opening win against Jeanjean, Gauff will now take on Sorana Cirstea in the third round of the Madrid Open.
Cirstea has never beaten Gauff before, but she has certainly tested the two-time major champion in both of their previous meetings on the tour.
They first clashed at the 2020 Australian Open, where Gauff had to come back from a set down to beat the Romanian.
Their second and most recent bout was earlier this year at the Miami Open, and once again, Cirstea took Gauff to three sets.
Gauff ultimately came out on top in their fourth-round meeting at the WTA 1000 event, securing the third set after Cirstea forced a decider, winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
The two stars will now do battle for the first time on a clay court, which has historically also been Cirstea’s best surface.
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