French Open: Coco Gauff beats Ons Jabeur after battling back from ...
Coco Gauff came back from a set down to beat Ons Jabeur and book her place in the final four of the French Open, where she'll face world No 1 Iga Swiatek.
In a terrific quarter-final clash, Gauff rallied to prevail 4-6 6-2 6-3 after a shaky start to the match which saw the 20-year-old struggle to get to grips with the shot-making of Jabeur.
The US Open champion, seeded third at Roland Garros, grew in confidence in the second set and stamped her authority on proceedings by breaking Jabeur three straight times.
Image: Ons Jabeur impressed early on in the match before her groundstrokes became increasingly erratic
The eighth-ranked Tunisian began to fade in the final set, her groundstrokes becoming increasingly erratic, and Gauff claimed another break of serve early on.
Jabeur threatened to break back as Gauff served for the match, but the American clung on and eventually closed out victory with her third match point as Jabeur volleyed wide.
"I definitely tried to be more aggressive," Gauff said. "She was playing really well the whole match, she was hitting a lot of winners against me - which is not something I'm used to with anybody.
"Towards the end, I got a little bit tight on the match points, but I did what I needed to do to win."
Ruthless Swiatek crushes Vondrousova to set up Gauff semiGauff will meet Swiatek in the semi-finals after the two-time defending champion swept aside former runner-up Marketa Vondrousova 6-0 6-2 in 62 minutes.
Image: Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates winning her quarter-final match of the French Open tennis tournament against Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Swiatek wasted little time to start firing in her quarter-final clash with the current Wimbledon champion as she ruthlessly bageled the fifth seed in first set.
It was the world No 1's third set in a row won to love following her 6-0 6-0 demolition of Anastasia Potapova in the fourth round.
Vondrousova, a French Open finalist in 2019, finally got on the board when claiming her opening service game of the second set and even earned a break point in Swiatek's next game but failed to convert it.
That proved costly, as Swiatek immediately broke her opponent again and the 23-year-old would never look back thereafter, sealing the most comfortable of victories.
"Everything worked for me," Swiatek said. "I feel like I've been serving better than in previous rounds, so that gave me an extra boost of confidence.
"I could just play my game, go with my tactics and not really overthink things. Today was pretty straightforward - I felt like I was pretty in the zone."
Swiatek's semi-final match against Gauff is a repeat of the 2022 final won by the Pole, who will look to further improve on her 10-1 career record against the third seed, who also lost to Swiatek in last year's quarter-finals.
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