|
|
|
|
Printable Page
07/07 12:26 CDT Coco Gauff beats Jessica Pegula to reach Wimbledon semifinals
as Jannik Sinner advances in the heat
Coco Gauff beats Jessica Pegula to reach Wimbledon semifinals as Jannik Sinner
advances in the heat
By KEN MAGUIRE
AP Sports Writer
LONDON (AP) --- There's no panic in Coco Gauff.
Down a set after untimely double-faults, Gauff rallied past Jessica Pegula 4-6,
6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday to reach the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time.
The two-time major champion raised her arms in the air after Pegula sent a weak
backhand into the net on the first match point in an all-American quarterfinal
on Centre Court.
"I've been going three sets almost every match. I feel like when you have that
faith in yourself as a competitor, when the match goes a distance, you know
when you lose one set, you're not panicking," Gauff said in an on-court
interview.
With the victory, the 22-year-old Gauff became the youngest player to reach the
semifinals at all four Grand Slams since Maria Sharapova, who completed the
feat at the 2007 French Open, the women's professional tennis tour said.
Gauff will face 10th-seeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic for a spot
in Saturday's final. Muchova, the 2023 French Open runner-up, eliminated Naomi
Osaka 7-6 (4), 6-4 on No. 1 Court.
In Gauff's six previous appearances at the All England Club, she had never
gotten past the fourth round. But perhaps experience at the grass-court major
is starting to pay off.
"I think after seven years playing this tournament it's finally the first time
I can walk on Centre Court and I didn't feel nervous," she said. "So I don't
know if I'm becoming a vet."
The "vet" was undone by early double-faults, though, putting herself in a hole
to start the match. She led 40-0 right away but lost the next five points ---
including two on double-faults --- to go down 1-0. After breaking Pegula in the
sixth game, Gauff was immediately broken to love with two more double-faults.
Gauff called the last two sets "really great tennis."
"Jess' ball is so flat and low. So I think I just needed to address that ... be
in there in the rallies and just play the tennis that I wanted to play. And I
think I started to land more first serves in the court," said Gauff, who
cranked up one serve to 126 mph in the third game of the second set. "So I
think that also helped and just trusting my shots."
Sinner beats Struff On No. 1 Court, defending champion Jannik Sinner kept his title defense on track by beating Jan-Lennard Struff 7-5, 7-6 (4), 6-3 to advance to the semifinals. The top-ranked Sinner continues to put his French Open meltdown behind him. He needed five sets to get past 50th-ranked Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round, but since then they've been straight-set victories, allowing the 24-year-old Italian to avoid marathon sessions. Sinner will next face either seven-time Wimbledon singles champion Novak Djokovic or third-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime. The men's final is on Sunday. In the completion of a fourth-round match, second-seeded Alexander Zverez beat Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (6) to set up a quarterfinal Wednesday against sixth-seeded Taylor Fritz. Heating up at Wimbledon Under a sunny sky, the early afternoon matches started with the temperature at 29 Celsius degrees (84 Fahrenheit) and expected to rise to 31 C (88 F). Sinner, who lost in the second round at the French Open amid a heat wave in Paris, used an ice towel around his neck on changeovers. Early in her match, Gauff asked the chair umpire: "Do you guys have an ice pack?" The American dabbed what appeared to be a blue ice pack to her cheeks and top of her thighs. ___ AP Sports Writer Andrew Dampf contributed to this report. ___ AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis |
| Copyright DTN. All rights reserved. Disclaimer. |
|
