Tracy Austin identifies where Coco Gauff can improve after her comeback victory against Iva Jovic

At 40-30, Jovic netted a forehand, squandering the only opportunity she would have to defeat Gauff on the Italian Open Centre Court.

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Gauff roared back to defeat her compatriot 5-7, 7-5, 6-2.

Jim Courier and Tracy Austin, two former Grand Slam champions, praised Gauff’s resilience in the aftermath of Monday’s match, with Austin also noting an area of improvement for the 22-year-old moving forward.

Tracy Austin says Coco Gauff needs to step into her forehand more often

“Those are the things you can’t see [Coco’s grit and determination], right?” two-time Australian Open champion Jim Courier said on the Tennis Channel.

“When you watch young players come up, you see the technique, but you also look at the results, and sometimes the players with the best technique aren’t the ones who have the results.

“And you can certainly say that Coco’s, the technique on the serve and the forehand, are works in progress.

“But there’s never been a question about her commitment to the contest and to the battle, and she showed it again on the match point.

“It was her weaker side, the forehand, that held strong. Tracy, you pointed that out, and that was super important to give Jovic a chance to flinch.

“So, you know, I just think that Coco, she’s a warrior, and she brings it out there.

“I hope, I really do hope that at some point that she can put some of the technical challenges behind her, because then she’ll be able to fly so much higher than she already is, and she’s already been to the top.”

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Tracy Austin, the 1981 US Open champion, went on to discuss Gauff’s aggressive play style when match point down against Jovic.

“Yeah, it’s really interesting because Coco said at that match point down,” said Austin. “She [Gauff] said, ‘I already had kind of put myself in the locker room.’

“But she knows to fight. She just went after those forehands.

“And what’s interesting to watch is that two years ago, Jovic’s forehand was not good. The contact point was so far behind her.

“A little bit like that [on match point] – that was reminiscent of it. She’s done a much better job of driving the ball. Jovic’s technique on the forehand has cleaned up.

“I would like Coco’s forehand to continue to clean up. So often Coco’s left leg is up in the air about two, three feet. She’s on her back foot.

“When she stepped in, those match points down, it was like, now we’re nothing, I’m going for broke. That’s when Coco is her best. So I wish that she was more front foot on that forehand side.”

After defeating Jovic, Gauff faces 18-year-old star Mirra Andreeva in the Italian Open quarter-finals.

Gauff has defeated the Russian in all four of their previous WTA matches, dating back to the 2023 French Open.

Should Gauff advance past Andreeva, she will play Sorana Cirstea or Jelena Ostapenko in the semi-finals.

Coco Gauff’s projected path to the Italian Open title

• Quarter-finals: Mirra Andreeva
• Semi-finals: Sorana Cirstea or Jelena Ostapenko
• Final: Elena Rybakina or Iga Świątek

What did Coco Gauff say after beating Mirra Andreeva for the first time?At the 2023 French Open, Coco Gauff rallied from a set down to defeat Mirra Andreeva 6-7, 6-1, 6-1 in the third round.During her post-match interview, Gauff was asked whether experience played a role in the result.Despite being only 19 years old at the time, Gauff was the senior figure in her match against Andreeva.Andreeva, of Russia, was only 16 years old when she played Gauff in the French capital for the first time.”I don’t know if experience played — yes, maybe,” Gauff told reporters in Paris.“I don’t know, to be honest. When I played against her I didn’t feel like she was lacking experience. “Honestly at the end of the first set it was weird, I had a feeling that, I don’t know if it was the energy she was giving me off or anything, wasn’t really quite anything she did, but I had a feeling that, even though I lost that set, I felt like I won the set.”I think, I mean, I knew in my head that I was playing the right way. I mean, 6-5 serving for it, 30-Love and she played great in the tiebreaker. I think I had two loose points and that matters in the tiebreaker.”I mean, I can say probably experience played a factor, but honestly what it felt like on the court, it didn’t feel like — you know, I played two other people that were younger than me, and in one of those matches for sure I would say experience played a part but I don’t know if that meant today. “I think she plays beyond her years, and I don’t know, feel similar to how I was.”