Coco Gauff ‘really proud’ to come through Quarter-final with ‘C game’
Coco Gauff has progressed into her first Australian Open semi-final, but the American admits that it was not her best performance after hitting 56 unforced errors.
Gauff beat Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, 7-6(6) 6(2)-7 6-2, having come back from 5-1 down in the first set and was more comfortable in the decider.
The US Open champion only won 39% of her second serve points, but was glad that she could come out on the right side of the result despite this.
“Today was definitely a C game, I didn’t play my best tennis but I’m really proud that I was able to get through today’s match,” admitted the 19-year-old. “Hopefully, I have got the bad match out of the way and I can play even better.
“Today was frustrating because I knew how I needed to play. I just couldn’t execute. Eventually, I was able to find it, which is what I’m proud of. At the end of the day you’re given a scouting report but you have to go with feeling and try your best to win. That’s what I did.”
Although the match did not go entirely to plan, Gauff revealed that she was feeling good in the warm-up, “When I warmed up in the pre-match earlier this morning I was hitting good. I was serving good. I actually felt really good.
“When I went on court and I had two breakpoints in the first game, I still felt good. Then I don’t know where it all happened to be honest. It wasn’t something that I felt this morning or even in the warm-up. I felt like I was going for shots that I normally make and was missing and missing by a lot, not even close.”
As a result of her latest victory, Gauff has become only the second teenager in history to win their first 10 matches in a season, having also retained the title in Auckland.
10 – Coco Gauff is the second teenager this Century to win her first 10 matches in a single calendar year after Justine Henin in 2001 (13 wins, title in Gold Coast, Canberra and R4 at the Australian Open). Perfection.#AUSOPEN | @AustralianOpen @WTA @WTA_insider pic.twitter.com/5V9YN6fYxR
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) January 23, 2024
Gauff will now go onto play defending Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka in her semi-final on Thursday, in a rematch of the most recent US Open final that the American won.
Inside the baseline…
It was certainly not a vintage performance from Coco Gauff today, but the best players learn how to win ugly and it is quite clear based off form that the American is one of those. It will be a huge step up in class for Gauff in the semi-final however, with Aryna Sabalenka the clear favourite for the title, so she will really need to clean up her game come Thursday.
READ NEXT: How to watch Australian Open
Join >> Receive $700/£600 of tennis gear from the Tennishead CLUB
Social >> Facebook, Twitter & YouTube
Read >> World’s best tennis magazine
Shop >> Lowest price tennis gear from our trusted partner
