Coco Gauff reached the semi-finals of a Major for the first time ever at the 2022 French Open with a 7-5, 6-2 win over fellow American Sloane Stephens in their last-eight derby on Tuesday. The 18-year-old needed an hour and 30 minutes to clinch the win.
The match had its ups and downs with both players trading breaks but throughout these moments, it was only Stephens who was playing catch-up to her younger opponent. Gauff outmatched her with her shot-making even as her rival, who’d reached the final here in 2018, struggled to find both the timing and placement of her shots.
Thus, although she was able to peg Gauff back while the latter served for the opening set in the ninth game and even consolidated the break back to level the set at five-all, she wasn’t able to do much on her serve in the 12th game while trying to push it further.
The second set was way more one-sided in Gauff’s favour as she just kept drawing out the errors in Stephens’ game even while her own game was shaky, and she faced multiple break points. In fact, the only two games Stephens won in the set came courtesy of service breaks – the first in the opening game of the set and the second, in the seventh when Gauff served for the match.
Gauff finished with 18 winners to Stephens’ 16 but had 26 unforced and 14 forced errors to her compatriot’s 31 and 20 respectively.
French Open: Martina Trevisan to challenge Coco Gauff
In the semi-final, Gauff will play fellow first-time Major semi-finalist, Martina Trevisan.
The Italian who’s now riding a 10-match winning momentum upset 17th seed Leylah Fernandez in a three-set encounter, 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-3 in two hours and 21 minutes. In what was an all-southpaw match-up, Trevisan dominated the proceedings across the first two sets and even raised a match point for her efforts in the second set.
But Fernandez thwarted her efforts and used the window of opportunity to level the match. In the deciding set, once again Trevisan took control of the match’s momentum and on the second time of asking, converted the win for herself.
The French Open semi-final between Martina Trevisan and Coco Gauff will be their second match against each other. Incidentally, their first meeting occurred at Roland Garros in the second round, with Trevisan winning that clash. Photo Credit: French Open Twitter
