Gauff delivered one great moment after starting her Berlin campaign with a round-of-16 win over Alexandrova.
World No. 2 Coco Gauff had a hilarious moment during her on-court interview following her Berlin win as the American tennis star didn’t remember that just 12 months ago it was Ekaterina Alexandrova who ended her run in the German capital.
After a first-round bye, top-seeded Gauff kicked off her Berlin campaign on Thursday with a 7-6 (6) 6-2 win over 20th-ranked Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Last year, Gauff started her Berlin run with a straight-set win over Katerina Siniakova before Alexandrova handed her a 6-4 6-0 loss in the round-of-16.
After meeting Alexandrova in the same stage of Berlin this year but this time ending on the winning side, the 20-year-old American was asked if she had in mind the Berlin loss she suffered to the Russian last year.
“The match you played against her here last year, the same spot, was that anywhere on your mind, or was it gone?” the on-court interviewer told Gauff on the court.
Gauff hilariously responded by asking back the interviewer: “I played her here last year?”
The interviewer instantly answered Gauff’s question, telling her: “Yeah. And you lost.”
Gauff replied, “Oh, well, I don’t remember” before bursting into laughter.
Gauff then got serious and spoke very highly of Alexandrova
After a funny moment, Gauff got serious and acknowledged that Alexandrova wasn’t an easy opening opponent in Berlin.
“I didn’t remember, so obviously I wasn’t thinking about it. I’m a different player from last year. She’s a great player to play on, especially on grass… She usually wins a couple of titles on grass, so I knew today would be tough,” Gauff added.
In the first set of her Berlin match against Alexandrova, Gauff was inches away from dropping the opener but impressively came back from a 3-6 deficit in the first-set tie-break before easily winning the second set to complete a two-set win.
Gauff plays Ons Jabeur in the Berlin quarterfinal.