Sports critics say Coco Gauff, 19, is slowly rising to become one of the greatest tennis players of her time after winning a remarkable comeback from Caroline Wozniacki, 33.
Gauff completed an extraordinary 6-3 3-6 6-1, making it to the last eight for the second year in a row.
The American tennis player will now face whoever wins the matchup between Jelena Ostapenko and Iga Swiatek in the last eight scheduled for Tuesday.
“Caroline [Wozniacki] is back and it looks like she never left, the level that she played today is amazing and she’s being an inspiration for me,” Gauff told Sky Sports. I remember when I saw her win the Australian Open, to play with her is an honor.”
She continued: “She gets to a lot of balls, and I felt like I was playing myself, getting that one extra ball back. I’m happy I was able to get back the focus. You have to be mentally tough, she’s not going to back down,” adding that “Sometimes I do tell them [the box] to chill a bit, because I like to think through matches my own way… My dad isn’t in the box anymore because he gets too nervous! He’s in a suite somewhere and doing laps around the stadium.”
On Thursday, Shine My Crown reported that Gauff advanced to the third round of the U.S. Open Wednesday in an attempt for an American player to become champion at Flushing Meadows.
Leading the women’s side was Gauff, who delivered a stunning 6-3 6-2 win over Russia’s Mirra Andreeva in a tug-of-war between young talent.
Gauff, who led court titles in Washington and Cincinnati, transformed four of her five break-point prospects and relinquished her serve only once during a 76-minute match at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The 19-year-old Atlanta native explained that part of her success in winning the match was taking a more bellicose methodology in her second meeting with Andreeva.
“She’s the type of player if you give her something she’s going to take advantage and today I think I did well making her play off her back foot,” Gauff told Reuters. “But Mirra, I think she has a great future ahead of her, I’ve been in her position before … she’s going to be back on this stage many more times in the future.”
