Coco Gauff blazed right into a semifinal of the U.S. Open for the primary time behind one of many best wins of her profession. Gauff, the No. 6 seed, required solely 68 minutes on Tuesday afternoon to dismiss No. 20 Jelena Ostapenko from the event, 6-0, 6-2, and turn out to be the primary American teenager since Serena Williams in 2001 to succeed in the ultimate 4.
Williams was additionally 19 that 12 months, and went on to succeed in the ultimate, the place she misplaced to Venus Williams, her sister. However Serena Williams finally received 23 main singles titles and staked a declare as one of the best participant in tennis historical past. Gauff, with years forward of her, is in search of her first Grand Slam singles title.
“She’s my idol,” Gauff mentioned of Serena Williams, “and I feel for those who advised me after I was youthful that I’d be in these identical stat traces as her I’d freak out. I’m nonetheless making an attempt not to consider it quite a bit as a result of I don’t wish to get my head massive or add strain, however it’s a cool second to have that stat alongside her.”
In her semifinal, Gauff will play both No. 30 Sorana Cirstea or No. 10 Karolina Muchova, whose match was scheduled for Tuesday evening. Gauff has confronted these gamers as soon as every and received each matches, serving to to make her highway to the ultimate, and maybe her first Grand Slam event title, doubtlessly very clean. She has already prevented a potential quarterfinal match with top-seeded Iga Swiatek as a result of Ostapenko upset her in a late match Sunday evening.
However when Ostapenko returned to the court docket at midday on Tuesday, with the temperature on the court docket in Arthur Ashe Stadium above 90 levels, she was no match for Gauff. Making an attempt to hit aggressive winners from the start, Ostapenko made 36 unforced errors as Gauff performed a affected person, mature sport and turned her consideration to the following spherical.
“I really feel so recent, to be sincere,” Gauff mentioned. “I’m actually pleased with how I’ve been in a position to get by these matches.”