Elina Svitolina captured the WTA 1000 title in Rome, defeating Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2 to claim the biggest trophy of her return as a mother. The victory in the final completed a run that saw Svitolina beat three of the Top 4 players in successive rounds: No. 2 Elena Rybakina in the quarterfinals and No. 3 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals, before overcoming the world No. 4 in the championship match.

Svitolina, the current No. 10, produced a gritty performance in the final. Gauff led 4-2 in the opening set and held break points for 5-2, but Svitolina closed out the set with four straight games. The second set featured 10 consecutive holds before Gauff briefly took a 6-5 lead; Svitolina broke back and the pair reached a tiebreak, which Gauff won after rallying from 3-2 down. In the decider, following three holds to open the set, Svitolina ran off five games in a row to take control and sealed the match with a reflex volley into the open court after two hours and 49 minutes.

This is Svitolina’s third Rome title, adding to her wins in 2017 and 2018, and her fifth WTA 1000 title overall, joining Dubai and Toronto from 2017. Since returning to the tour as a mom in 2023, she had previously won three WTA 250 events: Strasbourg in 2023, Rouen in 2025 and Auckland earlier this year. The Rome victory also marked a milestone 50th Top 10 win for her career. Her record in WTA finals now stands at 20-5.

The Rome trophy is the most significant title won by a mother on tour since Victoria Azarenka’s WTA 1000 victory in Cincinnati in 2020.

World No. 4 Coco Gauff, speaking after her semifinal win over Sorana Cirstea in Rome and ahead of Saturday’s Rome final, said she is open to simplifying tennis scoring. She acknowledged what makes the sport distinctive, noting “literally it’s not over until it’s over” when players must reach and then close out match point.

That said, Gauff singled out the traditional game-score sequence as confusing and in need of change. “The way the games are 15-Love, 30-Love. That doesn’t make any sense to me. It’s so hard to explain that to people,” she told press. “It’s 15, 30, but it goes to 40. Why?

“I don’t know, 1-0, 1-All situation. At least make it incrementally. It should be 45, not 40.”

The suggestion revived a long-standing historical curiosity. Records note that 45 was initially in place during the 1400s, though the shift to 40 lacks a verifiable explanation. The uncertain origins have prompted scholars to offer theories without firm proof.

Elizabeth Wilson, author of Love Game: A History of Tennis, from Victorian Pastime to Global Phenomenon, put the uncertainty plainly: “I don’t think anybody really knows how it started or why it developed how it did. There are various theories, all sorts of romantic theories have been built up about it. That’s partly what makes tennis into a kind of romantic game, because it had all this history that isn’t really history.”

Gauff’s remarks underline a wider conversation about modernizing aspects of the sport while preserving what many consider its unique drama. Her proposal to make scoring strictly incremental is simple in concept and intended to make the games easier to explain to newcomers and casual fans.

Elina Svitolina reached the Internazionali BNL d’Italia final with a hard-fought 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 semifinal win over Iga Swiatek. The two-time Foro Italico champion, victorious at the venue in 2017 and 2018, held firm after a second-set surge from the former world No. 1.

Svitolina had come into the match having survived a two-hour, 24-minute quarterfinal against Elena Rybakina the previous day. Her victory in Rome means she has now beaten the world No. 2 and the world No. 3 in back-to-back matches at the event.

“It’s amazing, the feeling is just unreal,” Svitolina said in an on-court interview. “After so many years, (to be) here again in the final is such an amazing feeling. And to do it in such a great way!”

The first set was narrowly decided, with Swiatek striking just seven winners against 24 unforced errors. Svitolina managed five winners and 12 unforced errors and benefited from the Pole dropping serve three times in the opener. Swiatek regrouped in the second set, opening 3-0 with a double break and raising her first-serve percentage from 52 percent in the first set to 81 percent in the second.

Svitolina’s defence carried her through the decider. She saved three break points in the opening game and then broke Swiatek to move ahead 3-0, a lead the Pole could not overturn.

The result leaves Swiatek without a title in 2026 and without a red-clay final this season ahead of Roland Garros. For Svitolina, the win sends her into her third final of 2026 and her second at the WTA 1000 level. She began the season by winning Auckland and was later runner-up in Dubai, where she lost to Jessica Pegula in the final.

Awaiting Svitolina on Saturday is world No. 4 Coco Gauff, who defeated No. 26 seed Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-3 to reach the final.