(Reuters) -World number three Coco Gauff is hoping the third time will be the charm for her when it comes to tournament finals on clay this season, as she heads into the French Open having fallen short in back-to-back finals on the surface this month.
Gauff, who is guaranteed to move up to number two in the rankings, lost 6-4 6-2 to home favourite Jasmine Paolini in Saturday’s Italian Open final, after going down to Aryna Sabalenka at the Madrid Open final earlier this month.
“Hopefully I can get to the final in Roland Garros and maybe the ‘third time is a charm’ thing is a real thing,” Gauff told reporters after her second loss in a WTA 1000 final.
“Overall I lost to two quality opponents, Aryna in Madrid and Jasmine here. So yeah, I think I have a lot to improve, a lot that I can work on.”
U.S. Open 2023 winner Gauff has struggled with unforced errors during the Italian Open, making over 70 in her semi-final win over Zheng Qinwen and 55 on Saturday, giving Paolini a significant edge.
“I made the final with those errors. Made the final maybe not playing my best tennis,” said Gauff, who reached the French Open final in 2022 and was a semi-finalist last year.
“It just gives me confidence if I can find that good form heading into Roland Garros, I can do well there.”
The main draw of the French Open begins May 25.
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in BengaluruEditing by Shri Navaratnam)
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