On a brutally hot afternoon in New York City, Coco Gauff wanted to make sure her work day was wrapped up quickly.
The sixth-seeded American needed just one hour and eight minutes to dispatch 20th seeded Jelena Ostapenko 6-0, 6-2 and reach the first U.S. Open semifinals of her career.
“Just stay on her and that it’s a new match,” Gauff said of her mentality heading into the second set. “Playing Jelena, you know that 6-0 set quite literally means nothing, and that’s tennis in general because there’s two out of three. I feel like that means even more nothing against her. Honestly, I wouldn’t lie, I am surprised by, not I guess the result, but how the match went today. I’m happy with how I was able to stay in it.”
Gauff is the first American teenager to reach the semifinals in New York since Serena Williams in 2001, and has now won 16 of her last 17 matches.
“Today was the best match I’ve played, for sure,” she added. “Even though it wasn’t how I like to play, against her it’s so hard to be the aggressor sometimes. The way decision-making is probably the best I’ve had, and I feel really confident in all my strokes.”
She will take that confidence into a semifinal showdown against 10th seed Karolina Muchova, who won her quarterfinal 6-0, 6-3 against Romania’s Sorana Cirstea in the opening match of Wednesday’s Night Session on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Karolina Muchova advanced in straight sets on Tuesday (Photo Credit: Darren Carroll/USTA)
“I’m pretty confident as well now, so yeah. I’m just up for the challenge,” said Muchova of taking on Gauff next. “Again, she’s a great player, it’s going to be for sure a tough battle. But yeah, I’ll be ready.”
In Thursday’s quarterfinals, second-seed Aryna Sabalenka will face 23rd seed Qinwen Zheng of China, while 17th seed American Madison Keys takes on ninth-seed and Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova.
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