Coco Gauff drops ‘cowardly’ remark forward of Iga Swiatek French Open showdown

Jun 05, 2023 at 11:42 PM

Coco Gauff claimed she can be “cowardly” to not need to face world No.1 Iga Swiatek as she insisted: “If you want to be the best you have to beat the best”. The American teenager has misplaced all six of her matches to the Pole – together with the French Open remaining final 12 months.

The two will meet once more within the quarters-finals after Gauff noticed off Slovakian Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 7-5 6-2. And all-conquering Swiatek reached the final eight for the lack of solely 9 video games when Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko retired sick at 5-1 down.

But world No.6 Gauff claimed: “Since last year I have been wanting to play her especially at this tournament. I figured that it was going to happen. I’m the type of mentality if you want to be the best you have to beat the best.

“I think also if you want to improve, you have to play the best. I think it would be almost cowardly to say that I want to not face the noise and not face the challenge, but I think that I’m up for it. I have improved a lot since last year, and she has too. I think it will be a great battle for us and for the fans too.”

Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia gained the longest ladies’s match of the 12 months – and the longest at Roland Garros since 1995 – when took three hours and 51 minutes to get previous Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-7 6-3 7-5. She will now face Wimbledon and US Open finalist Ons Jabeur who beat American Bernarda Pera 6-3 6-1.

British qualifier Hannah Klugman, 14, misplaced 7-6 7-5 to American No.2 seed Clervie Ngounoue within the ladies’ singles. Swiatek gained the French Open in 2020 with out dropping a set and gained final 12 months’s title dropping only one set. When requested if the victories had been coming too simply, Swiatek replied: “I don’t really feel prefer it’s an issue for me, as a result of I had many matches like that.