Gauff, an American teenage top tennis player, advances to the French Final

by Ricky Rillera

Coco Gauff at 2019 Wimbledon | Photo by Carine06 via Wikimedia Commons

NEW YORK – Coco Gauff, an American teenage tennis star, has become the youngest player to reach a major title match since Maria Sharapova won in Wimbledon at 17 in 2004. She defeated Italian Martina Trevisan, 6-3, 6-1, at the Roland Garros stadium for her French Open semifinal on Thursday, June 2.

Gauff, the 18-year-old, is the youngest player ranked in the top 100 by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and has a career-high ranking of world No. 15 in singles, achieved on April 4, 2022, and No. 10 in doubles, completed in February 2022. At 15, she became the youngest player to win a main draw singles match at Wimbledon since Jennifer Capriati in 1991 and the most-watched tennis player on television after defeating Venus Williams in the opening round of Wimbledon 2019. Gauff was also the youngest qualifier in Wimbledon. Simona Halep defeated her in the fourth round.

Trevisan, a 28-year-old left-hander, entered the day on a 10-match winning streak, including her first career WTA title at Rabat, Morocco, a week before the tournament at Roland Garros. In the second round in Paris two years ago, she defeated Gauff the only previous time they played.

Gauff won over fellow American Sloane Stephens on May 31, leading to her victory against Trevisan.

“Reaching the finals of Roland Garros is an indication of the commitment that Coco, her parents and her team have made to the process of getting better,” U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) Player and Coach Development GM Blackman said. “The focus on long-term development reflected in her training block after last year’s U.S. Open and during the pre-season break are paying dividends, and it speaks to her growth mindset and the visionary guidance of her parents.”

The victory makes Gauff, a native of Delray Beach, Fla.:

  • The youngest player to reach a Grand Slam women’s singles final since Maria Sharapova at 2004 Wimbledon.
  • The youngest player to reach the French Open women’s singles final since Kim Clijsters in 2001.
  • The youngest American to reach a Grand Slam women’s singles final since Serena Williams at the 1999 U.S. Open.
  • The youngest American to reach the French Open women’s singles final since Andrea Jaeger in 1982.

Gauff’s win marks the sixth time the French Open has featured an American in the women’s singles final in the last ten years. Americans have won 15 of the last 54 French Open women’s singles titles, almost three times as many as any other country.

Gauff will face world No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland in Saturday’s women’s singles final. Swiatek, the 2020 French Open champion, has won 34 consecutive singles matches, which is tied for the second-longest singles win streak on the WTA tour since 2000:

  1. Venus Williams, 35; 2000
    T2. Serena Williams, 34, 2013
    T2. Iga Swiatek, 34, 2022

Gauff, homeschooled by her mother, Candi, celebrated her recent high school graduation by posing for cap-and-gown photos near the Eiffel Tower while holding her diploma.

Fil-Canadian Leylah Fernandez loses in the quarter-finals

Leylah Fernandez | Photo by Troi Santos

Meanwhile, 19-year-old Fil-Canadian Leylah Fernandez reached the quarter-finals for the first time in her career. She won over American Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in their fourth-round match last May 29. Anisimova was a women’s singles semifinalist at age 17; in 2019, the year 16-year-old Fernandez won the junior girls’ title.

However, after a tough matchup, Fernandez lost to Trevisan, 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-3. She had a right foot injury that required treatment in the first set. Fernandez came up limping on the last point of the 2-2 game during the first set. It was her first Roland Garros quarter-final, with a big crowd in Court Philippe-Chatrier and a semifinal berth at stake.

Fernandez entered the French Open as the 18th-ranked player in the world but could not get past the 59th-ranked Trevisan. Not much is known about her injury if it would affect her preparation during a short grass-court season leading to Wimbledon next month. Her next scheduled tournament is the WTA 500 in Berlin, Germany, which begins on June 13.

She had a surprise run to the final at the U.S. Open last year, defeating several top players before bowing to British Emma Raducanu, who clinched the title. The 47th-ranked Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus ended the British top player’s French Open dream.

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