Coco Gauff Advances To The First Semi-final

Coco Gauff became the first American teenager to reach the US Open semi-finals since Serena Williams in 2001 after victory against Jelena Ostapenko.

The 19 year old No 6 seed dropped only two games as she crushed 20-seeded Jelena Ostapenko 6-0 6-2 in Tuesday’s quarter-final match, becoming the first teenage American to reach at the last four at Flushing Knolls since Serena Williams in 2001.

It is the second time Gauff has reached at this stage in one of the game’s Grand Slam event.

“The dreams never came with the people in the stands and autographs,” Gauff said. “That was never in the dreams, it was just, like, the trophy.

“Even though by the semi-finals, in theory, if you want to win, there’s two matches left, you can’t think like that.

“I’m still in the mindset that I’m in the beginning of the tournament. That’s what I have learned in the past being in quarter-finals: 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 sixteenth win in her beyond 17 counterparts for Gauff, who will face No 10 seed Karolina Muchova on Thursday for a spot in the final.

At Roland Garros in 2022, she participated in the decider of a major, but she lost to Iga Swiatek, who Ostapenko had defeated in her previous match.

This year, Gauff reached the quarterfinals in France again, but she lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open and was seeded seventh at Wimbledon to a qualifier and fellow countrywoman Sofia Kenin.

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Beyond the Grand Slam, this year has seen Gauff guarantee her most memorable WTA 500 and WTA 1000 singles titles at the Washington Open and Cincinnati Open separately, and she acknowledged those wins for helping her.

“I think doing well in those tournaments built my mental endurance,” Gauff said. “I always had the physical endurance, but it built my mental endurance.

“Right now, I feel emotionally fresh, which I think was the problem in the past in Grand Slams, I would emotionally be drained. Obviously, I’m physically fresh and emotionally fresh, and I think that just came from experience.

“Today was the best match I’ve played, for sure. Even though it wasn’t how I like to play, against her it’s so hard to be the aggressor sometimes.

“So, I think that, like, the decision-making that I’m making is probably the best I’ve had, and I feel really confident in all my strokes.”

Coco Gauff is the youngest American women’s player to make the semi-finals of Grand Slam on numerous events (2) since Serena Williams made the semi-finals of the US Open 1999 and Wimbledon 2000.