Coco Gauff becomes first player ever to beat Iga Swiatek four times in a row in straight sets

Coco Gauff continued her recent mastery of Iga Swiatek in the semifinals of the United Cup on Saturday night, scoring her fourth straight win over the Pole with a 6-4, 6-2 victory at the team event.

And not only has she beaten her four straight times now, she’s beaten her four straight times in straight sets—the first player ever to do that.

Only one other player has beaten Swiatek four times in a row at all—that would be Jelena Ostapenko, who’s 6-0 lifetime against her. The third, fourth and sixth of those meetings were three-setters, though.

Swiatek once dominated her head-to-head with Gauff, 11-1, but over the last year and a half that gap has closed in to 11-5.

SWIATEK VS GAUFF HEAD-TO-HEAD MEETINGS:

• Swiatek won in '21 Rome SFs, 7-6, 6-3
• Swiatek won in '22 Miami 4th Rd, 6-3, 6-1
• Swiatek won in '22 Roland Garros F, 6-1, 6-3
• Swiatek won in '22 San Diego QFs, 6-0, 6-3
• Swiatek won in '22 WTA Finals RR, 6-3, 6-0
• Swiatek won in '23 Dubai SFs, 6-4, 6-2
• Swiatek won in '23 Roland Garros QFs, 6-4, 6-2
• Gauff won in '23 Cincinnati SFs, 7-6, 3-6, 6-4
• Swiatek won in '23 Beijing SFs, 6-2, 6-3
• Swiatek won in '23 WTA Finals RR, 6-0, 7-5
• Swiatek won in '24 Rome SFs, 6-4, 6-3
• Swiatek won in '24 Roland Garros SFs, 6-2, 6-4
• Gauff won in '24 WTA Finals RR, 6-3, 6-4
• Gauff won in '25 United Cup F, 6-4, 6-4
• Gauff won in '25 Madrid SFs, 6-1, 6-1
• Gauff won in '26 United Cup SFs, 6-4, 6-2

Things looked dicey at the very beginning for Gauff on Saturday, as she had to rally from triple break point down—and save a fourth break point at ad-out—just to hold serve in the opening game of the match.

But once she got past that she settled in, opening up a 4-1 lead—to which Swiatek retaliated, getting the break back and evening it at 4-all.

That’s when Gauff caught fire, though, reeling off seven straight games to build a 6-4, 5-0 lead, and after Swiatek held and got one of the breaks back to close to 5-2, Gauff broke her right back to seal the win.

“I didn’t let the opportunities that I had the first two times I had match point get away from me,” Gauff said about closing it out.

“She played well—maybe there was one error on the backhand, but other than that she played the better tennis at the end. But I knew how I was playing the whole match that I would get it done.”

That victory also kept Team USA in contention in the semifinal clash, after Hubert Hurkacz’s earlier 7-6 (1), 7-6 (2) victory over Taylor Fritz.

It all came down to the mixed doubles, with Gauff coming back on court with Christian Harrison to face Jan Zielinski and Katarzyna Kawa.