Key events
Insights from the prematch interviews …
…
None, really. Garcia has had a great year. Gauff has had a great tournament. That would explain why they’re here.
The matchup
Gauff and Garcia are comfortably in the top 20 at No. 12 and No. 17, respectively. Gauff is ranked No. 1 in doubles, but she and fellow American/fellow singles quarterfinalist Jessica Pagula were upset in the first round by Canadian Leylah Fernandez and Australian Daria Saville.
Tonight’s quarterfinalists have met twice, with Gauff taking both. Gauff won in three sets last year in Indian Wells and in straight sets this year in Doha.
It’s hard to believe Gauff is still just 18 years old. Three years ago, she beat Venus Williams at Wimbledon. The tempting narrative is that she’s the next Serena Williams (or Venus), but Gauff’s upbringing is considerably different – rather than honing her craft under her parents’ tutelage and largely outside of the junior circuits, as the Williamses did, Gauff was a staple of the junior scene and reached the US Open girls final at age 13, just five years ago.
Also, it’s rather unfair to set the bar at “Serena Williams.” That’s like starting a pole vault with the bar set at seven meters.
We have rain.
Fortunately, Arthur Ashe Stadium has a retractable roof.
So while it’s been a washout today for some of the doubles matches and all juniors matches, we still get our electrifying doubleheader under the roof, starting with young American Coco Gauff vs. Caroline Garcia of France. The nightcap will feature the man who needs no introduction at this point but will get a big one anyway, Nick Kyrgios, against Karen Khachanov.
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s how Coco Gauff got on at the weekend:
Coco Gauff used her superior speed to overcome a second-set deficit and clinch a thrilling 7-5, 7-5 win over China’s Zhang Shuai to reach the quarter-finals of the US Open for the first time.
In a battle between the youngest player left in the draw, the 18-year-old Gauff, and the oldest, the 33-year-old Zhang, it was the Chinese player who looked sharper at the outset, breaking for a 2-0 lead in the first set. But 12th seed Gauff battled back and fired a backhand winner to claim the first set and electrify her home crowd.
Zhang, a human backboard content to extend rallies from the baseline, grabbed a 5-3 lead when she broke Gauff with a backhand winner of her own in the second set. But Gauff remained poised, breaking back to take a 6-5 lead and winning the point of the match with her astonishing speed when she slid from corner to corner to elicit the error from Zhang.
The crowd roared in approval, chanting Gauff’s name, and Zhang covered her ears to block out the sound, which was amplified by the closed roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“It feels insane. I mean, Ashe Stadium chanting my name?” Gauff, yet to drop a set in the tournament, said during her on-court interview. “I was trying not to smile on the bench on the changeover. I was trying to stay in the moment.”
Gauff sealed the nearly two-hour affair on an error by Zhang and the two exchanged a warm hug at the net.
