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Tag: Gauff

  • Gauff targets history after reaching Melbourne quarters

    Gauff targets history after reaching Melbourne quarters

    Coco Gauff is hoping history repeats itself after edging Karolina Muchova to make the Australian Open quarter-finals, with the American going on to win titles on three other occasions she has beaten the Czech player.

    Gauff dropped a set for the second match in a row before clawing her way into the last eight 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 and will now play either Ukraine’s 12th  seed Elina Svitolina or Russian eighth seed Mirra Andreeva.

    Gauff had a psychological advantage before a ball was hit, winning all of her previous encounters with the seasoned Muchova, including at Cincinnati and the US Open in 2023 and Beijing a year later.

    Gauff went on to be crowned champion at each event.

     “I saw someone post that. I didn’t know that,” she said. “I think I just usually play her later in the tournaments, so it just happens to be like that.

     “US Open I played her in the quarters, Beijing was in the final, Cincy was in the final. So I think it just happens to be like that because I have played her in the later rounds.

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     “I don’t think I’m going to think about that, but if I do win, then I guess I have her to thank.”

    The 21-year-old Gauff, the 2025 French Open and 2023 US Open champion, has never gone beyond the last four at Melbourne Park.

    Muchova had pedigree, bidding to make an eighth career Grand Slam quarter-final and she made life difficult after a slow start.

    Gauff made the best possible start, with back-to-back breaks of Muchova who blasted a slew of unforced errors, racing 4-0 in front.

    Gauff’s serve has been her Achilles’ heel in recent times, but she had few issues with it initially.

    Instead, it was Muchova who struggled, winning just 33 percent her first-serve points in the set.

    The Czech player finally held for 1-5 to avoid a dreaded bagel, but it just delayed the inevitable with Gauff taking the set in 30 minutes.

    Muchova began with more intent in set two, holding then taking advantage as Gauff’s serving yips returned to ease 2-0 ahead.

    Gauff broke back but again failed to hold and Muchova took a set off her for the first time in her career.

    The crucial moment in the third set came when Muchova spilled a forehand long on serve to give Gauff three break points in game three, with another loose shot from the Czech sealing her fate.

    Gauff held serve for 4-1 and safely sealed the win on her fourth match point.

     “She definitely elevated her game and I thought sometimes I was a bit passive, but it’s really tough to play her,” said Gauff.

     “She plays with so much variety, you never know what you’re going to do. I’m really happy to get through this one today.”

  • Gauff beats Sabalenka to win French Open title

    Gauff beats Sabalenka to win French Open title

    Coco Gauff won the first French Open singles title of her career by fighting back to beat world number one Aryna Sabalenka in a rollercoaster final.

    American second seed Gauff claimed a 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 6-4 victory after a tense battle between the WTA Tour’s two leading players in testing conditions.

    It is the second Grand Slam singles triumph of Gauff’s career, adding to the US Open title she won in 2023, also by beating Belarus’ Sabalenka.

    “I honestly didn’t think I could do it,” Gauff, 21, said during the trophy presentation.

    Gauff recovered from a difficult start where she trailed by a double break, eventually finding her rhythm and benefiting from a huge number of mistakes from 27-year-old Sabalenka.

    “This hurts so much. Congratulations to Coco – she was a better player than me,” said Sabalenka, who was also bidding for her first Roland Garros title.

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    A stiff breeze played havoc with serve in the opening two sets, leading to the pair exchanging 12 breaks in an entertaining if not high-quality affair.

    Gauff, who lost in the 2022 final, settled quicker in the deciding third set to move a break up and kept her nerve to serve out victory.

    She had to survive another break point before winning her second championship point, falling to the clay on her back when Sabalenka pushed a forehand wide.

    With her parents Candi and Corey dancing euphorically in the stands, Gauff shared an affectionate hug with Sabalenka before running off court to celebrate with her family.

  • Gauff salutes Williams sisters after US Open glory

    Gauff salutes Williams sisters after US Open glory

    Coco Gauff said tennis icons Serena and Venus Williams paved the way for her breakthrough US Open triumph on Saturday after the American teenager captured her first Grand Slam title.

    The 19-year-old from Florida battled to a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Aryna Sabalenka at the Arthur Ashe Stadium – where as a child she had watched the Williams sisters dominate.

    The win ensured Gauff will have her name etched into tennis history alongside other Black American women to lift the title such as the Williams sisters, Althea Gibson and Sloane Stephens.

     “It’s crazy. I mean, they’re the reason why I have this trophy today, to be honest,” Gauff said of the Williams sisters. “They have allowed me to believe in this dream growing up. You know, there wasn’t too many just Black tennis players dominating the sport. It was literally just them that I can remember when I was younger.

     “Obviously more came because of their legacy. So it made the dream more believable. But all the things that they had to go through, they made it easier for someone like me to do this.”

    Gauff referenced the Williams sisters’ 14-year boycott of the prestigious Indian Wells tournament – due to alleged racist heckling and Venus Williams’ push for equal pay for women at major championships.

     “You look back at the history with Indian Wells, with Serena, all she had to go through, Venus fighting for equal pay,” Gauff said.

    “Words can’t describe what (Serena and Venus Williams) meant to me. I hope another girl can see this and believe they can do it and hopefully their name can be on this trophy too.”

    Gauff’s breakthrough victory will catapult her to a new level in the hierarchy of American sport.

    Hollywood celebrities and sports stars such as NBA greats Kevin Durant and Jimmy Butler were on hand to witness Saturday’s triumph.

    She was soon bombarded with congratulatory messages from former US President Barack Obama and current President Joe Biden.

     “Congratulations to US Open champion, @CocoGauff,” Obama wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “We couldn’t be prouder of you on and off the court – and we know the best is yet to come.

    As the dust settled on Saturday’s victory, video footage of Gauff dancing in the crowd as a fan at the US Open rapidly went viral.

    Asked what message she would send to her younger self, she replied: “I would tell her don’t lose that dream.”

     “That little girl, like she had the dream, but I don’t know if she fully believed it,” Gauff said. As a kid, you have so many dreams. You know, as you get older sometimes it can fiddle away…I would tell her don’t lose the dream. Keep having fun.”

    Gauff admitted that she had lost belief in herself at times in the years since she burst onto the scene as a 15-year-old prodigy making a deep run at Wimbledon in 2019.

    Last year she was distraught after losing her first Grand Slam final at the French Open. This season she hit rock bottom after a first round exit at Wimbledon in July.

    That defeat at the All England club prompted her to bring the veteran Brad Gilbert into her coaching team. Immediately her fortunes improved, with a win at the Washington Open in August followed by a breakthrough first WTA 1000 title at the Cincinnati Open.

    Read Also: Golden Gauff reaches historic US Open semi-final

     “You know, people, I don’t know, I just felt like people were, like, ‘Oh, she’s hit her peak and she’s done. It was all hype’,” Gauff said of the reaction to her Wimbledon loss.

     “I see the comments. People don’t think I see it but I see it,” she told reporters. “I know who’s talking trash and I can’t wait to look on Twitter right now.”

    Gauff added that she had used the pain of her crushing French Open final loss to Iga Swiatek last year – where she won only four games in a straight sets defeat – to spur her to Saturday’s win.

    “The French Open moment, I don’t know if they caught it on camera but I watched Iga lift up that trophy, and I watched her the whole time. I said, ‘I’m not going to take my eyes off her, because I want to feel what that felt like for her.’

    “That felt like craziness today lifting this trophy. It hasn’t sunken in and I think it probably will maybe in a week or so.”

  • US Open: Gauff thro’ to third round

    US Open: Gauff thro’ to third round

    American teenager Coco Gauff qualified for the third round of the US Open on yesterday after beating 16-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 6-2.

    Sixth seed Gauff, one of the favourites for the title after recent tournament wins in Washington and Cincinnati, will meet Belgium’s Elise Mertens or countrywoman Danielle Collins for a place in the last 16.

    After a tough opening round against German veteran Laura Siegemund, Gauff dominated the youngest player in the draw to notch a 13th win in 14 matches since losing in the Wimbledon first round.

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    The 19-year-old defeated Andreeva for the second time in three Grand Slams after winning their French Open clash in the first act of a potentially era-defining rivalry.

     “I just learned to be aggressive, because if you give her something she is going to take advantage,” said Gauff, who was taken to three sets by Andreeva at Roland Garros in June. “I did well today making her play off her back foot.

     “She has a great future in front of her – I think she is going to be back on this stage many more times.”