Coco Gauff beats Jelena Ostapenko to reach US Open semifinals
After all, she comes from Florida via Atlanta. Coco Gauff thrives in the heat.
It’s getting even hotter for the 19-year-old. The No. 6-seeded number has been the center of attention at this US Open in women’s singles, and on Tuesday rose to winning territory. The high temperatures didn’t bother her as she played at Arthur Ashe Stadium at noon and Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open winner from Latvia, who beat Gauff 6-0, 6-2 in 1 hour and 8 minutes in the quarterfinals , did not bother her .
With the win, Gauff became the first American teenager to reach the semifinals of the US Open since 2001. Serena Williams lost to her sister Venus in the finals that year, but later got a chance to make up for it with some successes.
“This is by far my shortest game of the tournament, so maybe I’ll go out on the pitch again,” Gauff said seriously afterwards.
After a possible training session – and with a quarter-final doubles game on Wednesday together with partner Jessica Pegula – Gauff will meet number 10 seeded Karolina Muchova or number 30 seeded Sorana Cirstea in the semi-finals on Thursday evening. Last month, she won her only match against Muchova in the Cincinnati Finals to claim her fifth career title, and also won her singles match with Cirstea at the 2020 Australian Open.
Ostapenko handed Gauff a loss at the Australian Open that year but didn’t seem nearly as comfortable in Tuesday’s conditions. She said she stretched out after upsetting world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in a late-night match on Sunday and then went to bed at 5am on Monday. She said she had low energy throughout the day and found it difficult to focus on shots she would normally be able to get through.
“Honestly, I expected a little more [Gauff] today,” said Ostapenko, who won seven points in the 21-minute first set. “I felt like she was under a bit of pressure, so to speak, because of course it’s not easy to play at home, as I’ve experienced myself. But yeah, I think she might have changed tactics a bit [from January]. She’s a great player. She is still very young.”
Gauff had no such problems with her concentration. She was in control from the start, only making two unforced errors in the first set. Ostapenko is right that Gauff didn’t need her best, but winning with her “B” game and not letting up in the face of a player with such a risky and unpredictable game as Ostapenko’s was a gratifying part of the win.
“When you play against Jelena, you know that a 6-0 set means nothing in the truest sense of the word,” said Gauff.
Gauff’s success at this US Open rested almost as much on mental strength as on her physical prowess.
The second semi-final of her career at a Grand Slam tournament will take place on Thursday, after a victorious French Open semi-final last year. The lesson she takes away from that run in New York is don’t feel like the tournament is about to end. “Right now I have this attitude that I said to myself I have two more weeks to play,” she said.
It helps that Gauff, as she put it, feels less emotionally drained than she used to on a long run. Her responsibilities haven’t lessened and her tennis schedule hasn’t lessened, but her attitude has changed – she’s better at handling the pressure and having more fun on the court. She has often played just ahead of Novak Djokovic at Arthur Ashe Stadion and has made a habit of introducing him to the crowd after her matches.
“I’ll take the mic for that,” she told ESPN’s Pam Shriver. “Next up after the end of this tournament is the world’s No. 1 player. . . 23 slams, I think: Novak Djokovic! Wooooo!”
Small moments like this set Gauff free for big moments on the court — or when she inevitably hears the news that she’s the first American teenager to hit a milestone since Serena Williams.
“Oh, it means a lot to me. It’s great to be with her in every set. I mean she’s the greatest player of all time. You know I’m not nearly there yet. It’s just a great honor for me to sit in the same sentence as them,” said Gauff. “…She is my idol. I think if you told me as a kid that I had the same values as them, I would freak out. I still try not to think about it a lot because I don’t want to get my head big or put pressure on it, but it’s a cool moment to have that status by your side.”
On such a hot day, Gauff liked to enjoy all the cool moments she could get.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/09/05/coco-gauff-jelena-ostapenko/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=wp_homepage Coco Gauff beats Jelena Ostapenko to reach US Open semifinals
