Coco Gauff too good for Sloane Stephens, books French Open semi-final spot
Coco Gauff booked her place in the semi-finals at Roland Garros after a straight-sets win over American compatriot Sloane Stephens.
Gauff rarely looked troubled in Tuesday’s quarter-final and booked a 7-5, 6-2 win on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
She will face Martina Trevisan for a place in the final, after the Italian beat Leylah Fernandez in the day’s earlier women’s semi-final.
🇺🇸 No.18 @CocoGauff won a place in the semi-finals by beating Sloane Stephens — now it’s time for her third round doubles match!
Follow along with all of Day 10 Live:#RolandGarros
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 31, 2022
The 18-year-old Gauff raced into a 3-0 lead against a player 11 years her senior after breaking serve in the second game.
She was 5-2 up and still with a break to the good, but Stephens bounced back to level matters at 5-5.
However, the 29-year-old former US Open lost serve again with the score at 6-5 in Gauff’s favour to hand the teenager the first set.
A hard-fought first game of the second set followed and after Stephens broke Gauff’s serve first up, spectators courtside might have envisioned a spirited fightback.
However, Gauff showed some of her immense talent and rattled off the next five games to take a commanding lead.
Some nerves, perhaps, followed when serving for the match at 5-1 in the second, where she lost her serve once again.
It was nearly fitting to the day’s proceedings that she booked her place in the last four when Gauff once again broke serve in the next game.
“I feel so happy right now,” an elated Gauff said at reaching her first semi-final in Paris.
