Coco Gauff is aware of what it takes to achieve a Grand Slam last. Been there, carried out that. What she hasn’t skilled is profitable a serious championship. So her first journey to the semifinals on the U.S. Open doesn’t depart her glad in any respect, regardless of how dominant the efficiency was that obtained her to that stage.
“The dreams never came with the people in the stands and autographs. That was never in the dreams,” the 19-year-old from Florida stated. “It was just, like, the trophy.”
That {hardware} is getting nearer. Gauff dealt simply nice with the warmth, the humidity and a big-hitting opponent to defeat Jelena Ostapenko 6-0, 6-2 on Tuesday, changing into the primary American teenager to achieve the ultimate 4 at Flushing Meadows since Serena Williams in 2001.
“Even though (by) the semifinals, (in) theory, if you want to win, there’s two matches left, you can’t think like that,” the sixth-seeded Gauff stated. “I’m still in the mindset that I’m in the beginning of the tournament. That’s what I have learned in the past (from) being in quarterfinals: Before, I would think, ‘Close to the end.’ But right now, I have the mentality that I told myself, ‘I still have another two weeks to play.’ So that’s where my mind is at. Then, obviously when it’s over, it’s over. But right now, I’m just saying, ‘Another two weeks.’”
This was the 16th victory in her past 17 matches for Gauff, who will face No. 10 Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic on Thursday. Muchova, who made it to the French Open final in June, also used a terrific start — saving the nine break points she faced in the opening set, all in one game — to get past No. 30 Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-0, 6-3 at night.
A year ago at this time, Muchova was ranked 235th and exited the U.S. Open in the first round. But she showed off every bit of the variety she possesses to accumulate a 32-12 advantage in winners against Cirstea, who was appearing in her first Slam quarterfinal since 2009.
For Gauff, a first-round exit at Wimbledon in July sure feels like ages ago.
She reached the final at Roland Garros last year, but lost that title match to Iga Swiatek; they could have met again in the U.S. Open quarterfinals. But Swiatek didn’t make it, instead losing to Ostapenko in the fourth round. That defeat not only ended Swiatek’s title defense but also meant she will relinquish her spot at No. 1 in the WTA rankings to Aryna Sabalenka next week.
“I was shocked,” Gauff stated.
When she is on the mark, as she was Sunday night time towards Swiatek, 2017 French Open champion Ostapenko, a 26-year-old from Latvia, could be as difficult an opponent as there may be, as a result of she goes for broke on almost each stroke. If the balls land in, she is in enterprise. When they don’t, she is in bother.
She completed with 36 unforced errors Tuesday; Gauff had 14.
“Honestly,” stated Ostapenko, who beat Gauff on the Australian Open in January, “I was expecting a little bit more from her today.”
Ostapenko complained that she had a brief turnaround as a result of that Swiatek victory ended so late after which the Gauff match was so early — it started shortly after midday, with the temperature at 90 levels Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) and the humidity above 50%, prompting a rule change about the usage of the roofs on the 2 largest arenas.
“I was pretty sure (I was) going to play at night session, because that’s what they told me,” Ostapenko stated. “When the schedule came out, I saw I’m playing first match and was, like, ‘Wow, that’s a little bit strange scheduling.’”
Tournament referee Jake Garner stated Ostapenko’s crew didn’t request — and was not knowledgeable she would obtain — a late begin.
“She certainly wasn’t told anything from me or anybody on the referee’s staff. There’s always conversations between coaches, players to the referee’s, team tournament management, about the schedule, but I don’t believe that she was promised anything about specifically when she would play,” Garner stated. “And that would be very unusual for anybody to be promised anything that far in advance.”
In Tuesday’s first males’s quarterfinal, performed with the Arthur Ashe Stadium roof partly closed, 23-time main champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia defeated No. 9 Taylor Fritz of the United States 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.
Djokovic subsequent meets No. 10 Frances Tiafoe or unseeded Ben Shelton, who joined Fritz in making this the primary time since 2005 that three U.S. males have been within the last eight in New York.
Gauff, naturally, had the pro-American crowd on her facet. They applauded and yelled for her even earlier than she stepped out on courtroom, reacting when she was proven on the world’s video screens throughout a prematch TV interview.
The roars crescendoed when Gauff was launched earlier than play started.
And as soon as it did, she obtained off to about pretty much as good a begin as potential, grabbing 12 of the preliminary 15 factors for a 3-0 lead after simply 10 minutes.
Gauff didn’t have to attempt to drive issues. To her credit score, she didn’t. What she did do was use her instincts, smarts and velocity to get to Ostapenko’s greatest groundstrokes and ship them again over to the opposite facet. That exemplary protection would lengthen factors, most of the time, till Ostapenko erred.
“Today was the best match I’ve played, for sure,” Gauff stated, “even though it wasn’t how I like to play.”