(Tennis news) Caroline Garcia progressed to the semi-finals of a Grand Slam event for the first time in her career after defeating Coco Gauff 6-3 6-4 at the US Open. The result means that Garcia will take on fifth seed Ons Jabeur in the last four. The French tennis player last reached the quarter-finals five years ago and reached a career high fourth in ranking but has struggled with form and consistency since. The 28 year old won her first title in three years on the grass courts of Bad Homburg in Germany and has secured 13 consecutive victories since then.

She went on to win two more titles, one on clay in Warsaw and the hard court event in Cincinnati. She dealt expertly with Gauff’s 128 miles per hour serve and her opponent struggled to test Garcia who managed tricky situations effortlessly. Speaking after the match, Caroline Garcia said “It was definitely a challenge. When it was 2011 after the Sharapova match, it was a lot of pressure coming from actually nowhere. I was 150, 200 in the world, 17 years old. My game was not ready. 

“The weeks after I went back trying to play the same level, but it was not possible for me. It was tough because people were expecting a lot. But the game, I was not ready for anything like that. It took me some time to come step by step to the top. The end of 2017, 2018 was a great year, a lot of success. We made some mistakes. I really hope and I think we learn from it. Now it's a new year, trying to learn from every challenge. I think I grew up a lot with all the challenges on and off the court. I'm just trying to focus on my game, on what I like to do, and what is the best way for me to play tennis. The path is very clear right now, which direction I have to go, under stress, under pressure. I'm just trying to follow this path." 

Coco Gauff said “Her level was great – I knew it was going to be great coming in. I feel I didn't play at the level I needed to come out with the win today. Overall, I'm super proud of myself for this tournament, but I'm hungry for more. So maybe next year." In other results, Ons Jabeur became the first African woman to reach the US Open semi-finals in the open era after a 6-4 7-6 (4) win over Ajla Tomljanovic.

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