Diana Shnaider Continues 2024 Breakout with Upset of Gauff

Shnaider, who won an Olympic silver medal in women’s doubles with Mirra Andreeva last weekend, only had a full day to reacclimate herself to the North American hard courts before making her debut at the National Bank Open. She won her first two matches of the week against Harriet Dart and Magdalena Frech in final-set tiebreaks and seemed ready to go toe-to-toe with Gauff, who was facing a similarly quick turnaround from the red clay in Paris.

“I will just try my best today, and I will keep it cool with my emotions. There [aren’t] any minutes or seconds to waste on any negative thoughts,” Shnaider said of her mentality going into her first meeting with Gauff, who is also 20 years old. “I just went there and I was like, Okay, I will just keep fighting for every ball, and if it will go my way, it will go my way. I just will work for it and fight for it. If Coco plays better today than me, then she will need to earn it.”

Shnaider began the match on the front foot, countering each of Gauff’s powerful groundstrokes with heavy topspin — and with interest — and specifically targeting the American’s forehand. Shnaider protected her own serve well, never facing a break point in the opening set, and she bided her time well to earn a crucial break in the 10th game after her opponent netted a crosscourt backhand on her third set point.

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“I think I was honestly very surprised how I was putting a lot of balls in. I know Coco is very physically prepared for everyone on tour — she's running very well, she's covering all of the balls and all the angles on the court. So when there were long rallies and I was winning them, I was like, ‘Wow, I just beat Coco in long rallies. I am good today, okay,’” Shnaider said with a laugh. “I tried to play it cool, but inside I was like, “Yes! I made it.”

Gauff truthfully never looked completely comfortable during the 70-minute encounter — something she admitted to reporters during her post-match press conference — and struggled to find her rhythm on serve and off the ground, even off her steadier backhand side. The World No. 2 hit three double faults in one game to go down an early break in the second set, and Shnaider never really looked back.

“Coco had a lot of unforced errors today, so I really tried my best to keep long rallies [going] as much as I can, and also not to do a lot of unforced errors. So if she will made a winner, good job — she made a winner. And it's nothing else I can do,” Shnaider said. “I was trying my best to keep long rallies, and if I have any moment that I can be aggressive, I tried to use it.”

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One of the most surprising stars of the 2024 season, Shnaider now improves to 39-14 across all levels of the professional tour — two more wins than Gauff. With her big lefty forehand and ability to turn defense into attack with a single shot, the 20-year-old has impressively scooped up three WTA 250 titles on three different surfaces and one WTA 125 title, and has risen to a career-high ranking of No. 23 in the world. (After this week, she is projected to improve to No. 22.)

“After my first title, I was like, ‘Okay, I won. My goal is to have a second title this year.’ I already achieved it, but, for sure, I'm hungry for more,” Shnaider said of her initial takeaways from her career-best year. “I've been playing one of the greatest seasons so far, and it's a nice feeling, but I think it's a lot of things that I still can improve, and I will be working on them with the coaches, with my team.”

To what does she credit all of her hard-earned success this season?

“I missed a couple high-level tournaments last year because I was in college, but this year I'm playing a full year in professional tour, so it's coming with all of the experience [of] playing against players like Coco and competing more in events like here and Grand Slams,” said Shnaider, who played a season at North Carolina State University and helped the school reach the NCAA Championships final. “It's like a puzzle: it's coming all together, and then you actually will not notice it. But then it clicks and you're just like, ‘Okay, I'm here and we can go for more.’”

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Shnaider will now be looking to go for more against compatriot Liudmila Samsonova, who knocked out Belgium’s Elise Mertens earlier in the day to advance to the last eight. Shnaider won the pair’s only meeting earlier this year in Rome, in straight sets.

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Feature Photo: Peter Power