Gauff Rallies Into All-American Clash vs. Parks in Miami

By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, March 20, 2026
Photo credit: Jon Buckle/ROLEX

After the rain subsided, Coco Gauff faced a torrent of strain.

Down a break in the final set to an opponent who won their last meeting, Gauff was getting pushed back behind the baseline

Then Gauff put her foot down.

The reigning Roland Garros champion charged through six of the final set games eliminating Elisabetta Cocciaretto 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to reach the round of 32 at the Miami Open.

“She played some great tennis. Honestly, I thought she just takes the ball so early and she has good timing, so you feel like you hit the ball deep and most people will take a couple steps back,” Gauff said. “You know, that’s how most people are taught to play, and she’s the opposite.

“So I think for me was just expecting every ball to come back way, I guess, more offensively than you normally would against most other opponents.”

It was Gauff’s first match since she retired from the Indian Wells third round due to a left forearm injury while trailing Alexandra Eala 2-6, 0-2. Gauff said the forearm issue flared up at times today, but said the pain is manageable and reports the arm is feeling better.

“I do feel it sometimes. I felt it a little bit today, and I took some Advil,” Gauff said. “Yeah, but it’s
definitely not as intense as it was in Indian Wells. It’s such a weird thing, because I have practiced and not felt it, and sometimes, all of a sudden, a shot, you just feel it.

“Yeah, I said it’s a nerve thing, so I don’t really know, I guess, what we have been doing has been working, which is just needling and a lot of soft tissue work and stuff. It’s definitely gotten better. Went from feeling it a lot to not a lot — or, God, sorry, feeling it a lot to a little bit. But, yeah, I think it will get better. It’s just so weird.”

Playing off her front foot more frequently, Gauff launched her comeback from the ground up.

“I was trying to focus on my feet and make sure that was moving, especially since she hits the ball so flat and low theres not a lot of room for error,” Gauff told Tennis Channel’s Prakash Amritraj. “So i tried to focus on my feet more than anything.”

It was a sticky and sometime sloppy match. Gauff committed 39 unforced errors, including 11 double faults, but battled vigorously.

Confronting that 0-2 deficit in the third set, Gauff was playing high heavy topspin forehands down the line to the Italian’s backhand then stepping in, at times, to crack her two-handed backhand.

Gauff broke in three of Cocciaretto’s final four service games to beat the Italian for the fourth time in five meetings, avenging a 6-4, 6-2 loss in Doha last month.

The fourth-seeded Gauff will face big-serving Alycia Parks for a spot in the round of 16.

Earlier, Parks won 25 of 35 first-serve points sweeping Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-3.

The 105th-ranked Parks is an explosive player, who has been practicing with Serena Williams about three times a week. The match will pit Parks aggressive baseline play against Gauff’s tremendous defense.

Two-time Grand Slam champion Gauff beat Parks in their lone prior meeting 6-0, 6-2 at the 2024 Australian Open.