(Tennis news) Having defeated fellow American Madison Keys 6-2 7-5, Coco Gauff now faces a tough test in Iga Swiatek in her third semi final of a WTA 1000 level or above. Gauff dominated the first set after a shaky start by Keys but the world number 23 fought well in the second set to lead 5-4 but she committed 54 unforced errors during the game, which meant that 18 year old Gauff managed to win the match. Gauff will now take on Swiatek in the final four after the world number 1 received a walkover after opponent Karolina Pliskova was ruled out due to illness.
It will be the sixth time Gauff and Swiatek will face each other with their last meeting being in the Roland Garros final and the 18 year old is yet to win against her Polish opponent. Speaking about her match against Swiatek, Gauff said “All five times, I did something wrong! To be honest, she’s playing great tennis and there’s a reason she’s world No 1. I have no pressure. I just have to play my game – I definitely think I’ve gotten better since the last time I played her. Ranking is just a number at the end of the day. You just have to step on the court believing you can win, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
In other results, Barbora Krejcikova came back from a set down to secure a 0-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 win over Aryna Sabalenka. The Czech tennis player said “I was just fighting. There’s not really much you can change because she plays well, she serves well, she hits really hard. I was just trying to get to her pace, just try to, I don’t know, maybe be a little more aggressive because otherwise it’s difficult to do something else.” The result meant that she became the first player to win a WTA 1000 quarter-final after being 6-0 down in the first set since Timea Bacsinszky in Beijing 2015 against Sara Errani.
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