Coco Gauff’s run to the Italian Open final was inspired, but just like in Madrid, she came unstuck right at the end.
Admittedly, it had not been the best week of tennis that the 21-year-old had ever played, but it is often the mark of a top player to keep winning despite not excelling.
Jasmine Paolini, though, in front of a raucous home crowd, was not to be denied.
She was good value for the title, as Coco Gauff would graciously admit in her post-match press conference.
Coco Gauff speaks about Jasmine Paolini after Italian Open defeat
First touching on her opponent, naturally Gauff was supremely complimentary: ‘Yeah, I mean, Jasmine played I think great tennis today. I think it was one of her best levels today. I also didn’t play my best level. I think it’s both.
‘It’s not to discredit my opponent. She forced me to play that way. Yeah, maybe I could have served better and put more balls in the court, could play better. I definitely could and can.
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‘But she played to win today and she deserved to win.
‘With the crowd, I mean, they were fine to me. I didn’t think they were being disrespectful or anything.’
Then asked to expand upon that final comment, especially after some players have complained about the Italian Open crowd this week, she claimed: ‘Yeah, I mean, either way, if the crowd is for you or not necessarily against you, I feel like you have to be focused.
‘For me, it didn’t play a factor in how I played today. I knew going in today it was going to be like that. Last year I played her in the final. Honestly, I thought that was maybe a little bit more rowdier because it was a tiebreaker.
‘Yeah, I think I expected it. I don’t think it changed a result for me today.’
What went wrong for Coco Gauff in the Italian Open final?
For Gauff, Saturday’s Italian Open defeat was a frustrating microcosm of everything she has been struggling with in recent weeks.
Her struggling service and faltering forehand were brutally exploited by an energetic and clinical Paolini, who was not going to let so many unforced errors go by unpunished like Qinwen Zheng did the round earlier.
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Seven double faults to the Italian’s zero outline where a key difference in quality lay on the day, but also managing to put just 53.4% of her first serves in allowed her second serve to be pounced upon.
Elsewhere, 55 unforced errors were a reduction on the 82 endured against Zheng, neither of which were really good enough to win a title.
At least now, heading into Roland Garros, Gauff knows exactly what she must fix to convert these final appearances into elite silverware.