Coco Gauff shrugged off the heat, humidity and powerful rival on Tuesday in New York to reach the U.S. Open semifinals for the first time in her career with a 6-0, 6 win -2 against Latvian Jelena Ostapenko.
Gauff, 19, becomes the first American under 20 to reach the semi-finals in New York since 2001, when Serena Williams was runner-up ahead of her older sister, Venus.
“Last year I lost in the quarter-finals so I wanted to get a better result this year,” Gauff said. I hope my journey will continue to stretch, but I’m happy to continue working in anticipation of the next game. »
This is Gauff’s 16th victory in his last 17 games. Her best Grand Slam result is a participation in the French Open final in 2022. She then lost to Iga Swiatek.
This time, Swiatek was knocked out of her way by Ostapenko in the fourth round. This not only ended Swiatek’s defense, but also his reign as world No. 1. She will hand over her crown to Aryna Sabalenka in the rankings update next week.
When she is in full possession of her means, Ostapenko can seem unbeatable, because she goes all out with every shot. But the 2017 French Open champion can also experience disastrous days like Tuesday, when she committed 36 unforced errors against Gauff.
“I didn’t feel comfortable throughout the match, and even on match point. I know her style and I know she has the tools to bounce back no matter the score,” said Gauff, who lost to Ostapenko at the Australian Open in January. So I wanted to get through every point, try to play every ball. »
In the semi-finals on Thursday, Gauff will face the winner of the duel between the Czech Karolina Muchova, no. 10, and the Romanian Sorana Cirstea, no. 30. Muchova and Cirstea had an appointment in the evening.
Wednesday’s two quarterfinals will pit No. 2 Sabalenka against No. 23 China’s Zheng Qinwen, as well as Czech Marketa Vondrousova, the July Wimbledon champion, against No. 17 American Madison Keys.
Fernandez ruled out of doubles semi-final
For their part, Laval’s Leylah Annie Fernandez and her playing partner, American Taylor Townsend, were unable to overcome Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe, who never gave up. taken and defeated them by the score of 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 [10-8]to reach the semifinals of the United States Open in women’s doubles.
Dabrowski and Routliffe, 16th seeds, had to work hard to win after a duel of 2 hours 32 minutes.
In the semi-finals, they will face the winners of the duel between the Americans Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff, our 3, with the Taiwanese Su-Wei Hsieh and the Chinese Xinyu Wang, our 8.
Dabrowski and Routliffe managed to turn the page on a difficult first set, won in 40 minutes of play by Fernandez and Townsend, our 6.
The tension was to be cut with a knife in the Louis-Armstrong stadium once it reached the final round. Dabrowski and Routliffe took the lead 4-1, but saw Fernandez and Townsend win the next three games to create a 4-4 stalemate. Fernandez was broken on serve in the interminable next game, but Dabrowski was unable to close the books on serve for the match.
Townsend and Routliffe then won their service game, forcing the presentation of a super tiebreaker. Fernandez and Townsend then quickly took an advantage of 5-1. However, two consecutive double faults from Townsend brought their rivals back into the game.
The match ended when Routliffe managed to cushion a powerful strike from the opposition. The ball barely crossed the net before bouncing weakly, leaving no chance for Fernandez or Townsend to send it back into play.
Dabrowski was thus entitled to his revenge, she who had lost against Fernandez and Townsend during the third round of the French Open this spring. Dabrowski was then playing with the Brazilian Luisa Stefani.
Fernandez and Townsend had eventually reached the final at the French Open. They were also finalists at the Miami Open earlier this season.
Dabrowski, 31, reached the women’s doubles semifinals at the US Open for the second time. She had accomplished the feat in 2021 with Stefani. The latter had to give up during this match due to a knee injury.
Routliffe will be making her first semifinals at Flushing Meadows.
She and Dabrowski are in their fourth tournament together. They began their association in August at the National Bank Open in Montreal.
With The Canadian Press
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2023-09-06 00:40:31
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