Following her failure to retain her championship at the Cincinnati Open in 2024, Coco Gauff is expected to drop off of the World No. 2 spot on the WTA Tour. On August 15, the 20-year-old withdrew from the WTA 1000 competition in the second round.

The second-placed Gauff had a first-round bye and then faced Yulia Putintseva in the second round. In the opening set, both ladies exchanged several serve breaks, but the Kazakh was able to control her nerves better and win the match. With a 6-2 victory in the second set, Gauff stormed back into the match and forced a decider.

In the decisive set, the American quickly jumped out to a 4-2 lead and appeared certain to win. She was unable to maintain her lead, though, and Putintseva won 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 after winning four straight games. The 29-year-old had already defeated Zheng Qinwen at the Madrid Open and Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon, making this his third top-10 victory of the year.

Watch as Ben Shelton gives a headband to a young supporter of Tomas Martin Etcheverry, who is dejected after his team defeats Argentina in the Cincinnati Open 2R.”How did that happen so fast?” – On Adira,’s first birthday, Serena Williams’ spouse, Alexis Ohanian, shows off his affection for his youngest child. Zheng Qinwen says her parents are already in possession of her gold medal from the Paris Olympics. “The first thing my father told me was, ‘We want the medal in China.'”

Following her shocking loss in Cincinnati, Coco Gauff will now be ranked third after falling out of the top spot to Aryna Sabalenka. In Cincinnati last year, Gauff won her first WTA 1000 championship, making history as the tournament’s youngest-ever winner. She will, however, forfeit 890 of the 900 points she accrued during the tournament in 2023 following her defeat against Putintseva.

Coco Gauff has won just one match on the North American hard-court swing head of US Open title defense

The 2024 US Open, where Coco Gauff is the reigning champion, will be her next competition. In the 2023 US Open final, the American defeated Aryna Sabalenka to become the first teenager to win in New York since 1999. At Flushing Meadows, she will now have to defend the 2000 points.

With just one victory in the North American hardcourt tournaments leading up to the year’s last Grand Slam, the gifted American’s form heading to New York is worrisome. Due to her participation in the Olympics in Paris, Gauff did not defend her title at the WTA 500 Citi Open. In Paris, she participated in the women’s doubles, mixed doubles, and singles competitions but was unable to secure a medal in any of them.

Afterwards, she competed at the Toronto Canadian Open, where she won over Wang Yafan before falling to Diana Shnaider in the third round. Coco Gauff will need to make a deep run in New York after losing in the second round in Cincinnati in order to prevent more harm to her WTA Rankings.