The 19-year-old Gauff knocked out Ostapenko in 69 minutes to claim her 16th win in her last 17 matches. The finalist of last year’s Roland Garros triumphed before the final Grand Slam of the season at tournaments in Washington and Cincinnati. She defeated Muchová in the finals in Cincinnati.
“It’s a great feeling. Last year I lost here in the quarterfinals and this time I wanted to be better,” Gauff said in an interview on the court. “I was careful throughout the match. Even at match points, I was still not sure of victory. I know very well that Jelena can come back from any condition,” she added.
Twenty-six-year-old Ostapenko, who knocked out defending champion Iga Šwiateková of Poland in the round of 16 and ended her reign at the top of the world rankings, paid the price for 36 unforced errors. Gauff only had 14 of them.
“As they say in basketball, defense wins games. Today I added a quality attack to it and that was the deciding factor,” added Gauff, who is the youngest American to reach the US Open semifinals since Serena Williams in 2001.
Djokovic the oldest semifinalist since Connors
Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic advanced to the semi-finals at the US Open and is only two wins away from his 24th Grand Slam title. The three-time winner of the New York tournament and the second seed knocked out the home American Taylor Fritz today. He defeated Jakub Menšík, the tournament’s number nine and conqueror, in challenging conditions in two hours and 38 minutes 6:1, 6:4, 6:4.
Thirty-six-year-old Djokovic became the oldest US Open semifinalist since Jimmy Connors in 1991. The native of Belgrade fought his way to a career-high four top-13s in New York. In total, this is his 47th Grand Slam semi-final, making him independent at the top of the all-time ranking ahead of Roger Federer of Switzerland.
“I’ve been playing on this court for many years and I’ve had a lot of epic matches here. I can’t wait for the next one to come in a few days,” Djokovic said in an interview on the court.
Djokovic defeated Fritz in the eighth match between them and did not lose a set with him for the seventh time. In the duel, he scored 25 winning balls, while the American, on the other hand, paid the price for 51 unforced errors on the Arthur Ashe court. During the match, the temperature was around 38 degrees Celsius and high humidity. “It was very difficult to play in it. It wasn’t easy at all,” added Djokovic.
In the fight for the final, the Serbian tennis player will challenge another American. His next opponent will be either tournament top ten Frances Tiafoe or Ben Shelton.
US OPEN (hard surface, $65 million subsidy): Women: Singles – quarterfinals: Gauffová (6-USA) – Ostapenko (20-Lot.) 6:0, 6:2. Men’s Singles – quarterfinals: Djokovic (2-Serb. ) – Fritz (9-USA) 6:1, 6:4, 6:4 Other results of Czech female tennis players here
2023-09-05 22:42:14
#Open #Gauffová #Ostapenková #Gauffová #mercilessly #swept #conqueror #Šwiateková #Djokovic #advanced #smoothly #Sport.cz
