Gauff advances to 1st U.S. Open semifinal as Djokovic punches ticket to his 13th

Coco Gauff dealt just fine with the heat, the humidity, her big-hitting opponent and the task of trying to reach the U.S. Open semifinals for the first time, defeating 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-0, 6-2 on Tuesday.

Gauff, a 19-year-old from Florida, is the first American teenager to reach the final four at Flushing Meadows since Serena Williams was the runner-up to her older sister, Venus, in 2001.

“Last year, I lost in the quarterfinal stage, and I wanted to do better this year,” Gauff said. “Still have a long way to go, but I’m happy and I’m ready to get back to work for the next one.”

This was the 16th victory in her past 17 matches for Gauff — a first-round exit at Wimbledon in July sure feels like ages ago. Her best Grand Slam showing so far was making it to the final at Roland Garros last year.

Gauff lost that title match to Iga Swiatek and those two could have met again in the U.S. Open quarterfinals. But Swiatek didn’t make it, instead losing to Ostapenko in the fourth round. That defeat not only ended Swiatek’s title defence but also meant she will relinquish her spot at No. 1 in the WTA rankings to Aryna Sabalenka next week.

When she is on the mark, as she was Sunday night against Swiatek, Ostapenko can be as challenging an opponent as there is, because she goes for broke on nearly every stroke. If the balls land in, she is in business. When they don’t, she is in trouble. She finished with 36 unforced errors Tuesday; Gauff had 14.

In the semifinals Thursday, Gauff will face No. 10 Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic or No. 30 Sorana Cirstea of Romania. They were scheduled to play Tuesday night.

The women’s quarterfinals on Wednesday will be Sabalenka of Belarus vs. No. 23 Zheng Qinwen of China, and Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic vs. No. 17 Madison Keys, an American who was the runner-up at the 2017 U.S. Open.

Djokovic downs Fritz

In Tuesday’s first men’s quarterfinal, which was played with the Arthur Ashe Stadium roof partly closed to offer some shade to fans and players with the temperature above 32 C and the humidity above 50 per cent, 23-time major champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia defeated No. 9 Taylor Fritz of the United States 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.

Djokovic improved to 8-0 against Fritz and 13-0 in U.S. Open quarterfinals, while making it to his 47th Grand Slam semifinal overall, breaking a tie with Roger Federer for the most by a man.

Djokovic will now meet No. 10 Frances Tiafoe or unseeded Ben Shelton, who had joined Fritz in making this the first time since 2005 that three U.S. men were in the final eight in New York.