Coco Gauff needed three sets to win her first Grand Slam title. The American, 6th in the world, won the US Open on Saturday, beating Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the final.
Gauff had played the final at Roland-Garros in 2022, but had never yet advanced beyond the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows. She will be 3rd in the world on Monday, the best ranking of her career. Sabalenka will be N.1.
On the road opened by Serena Williams
At 19, Gauff is the youngest American to win the US Open since Serena Williams in 1999, when she won the first of her six titles at Flushing Meadows. The young Floridian therefore ends with fireworks an American summer tour launched by a flamboyant month of August with two titles up for grabs: Washington and the WTA 1000 in Cincinnati, where she beat world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals. .
Sabalenka, 25, was also playing her first final in New York after losing in the semi-finals of the last two editions. She tried throughout the match to overwhelm Gauff, but the American’s defense got the better of the Belarusian who scuttled herself with unforced errors (46 in total against 19 for Gauff).
However, at the start of the final, Coco Gauff, supported by the 24,000 spectators on the Arthur-Ashe court, was completely overtaken by Sabalenka who, with her big powerful shots, immediately took the game into her own hands, while the American was content to put the ball back, if possible in the court. But the Belarusian made so many unforced errors that she kept her opponent in the match.
Thus, after achieving the entry break to lead 2-0, Sabalenka offered the break to his opponent by committing two double faults and two unforced errors on his next service game. Then, despite new huge unforced errors, like this high volley conscientiously thrown into the bottom of the net, the Belarusian took over Gauff’s serve and managed to confirm the break (4-2) then win the next two games again to pocket the and.
But Gauff did not give up, realizing that it was enough for him to make his opponent play. In the second set, she managed the break to lead 3-1 by taking advantage of a double fault from Sabalenka (the fourth). Despite a break point, she confirmed her advantage and took advantage of her opponent’s 16th unforced error of the set to equalize at one set all. In the process, the American took the Belarusian’s serve… twice.
Sabalenka ended up winning her service game, but called the doctor onto the court to massage the inside of her left thigh, displaying the face of a player at least as resigned as she was in pain. However, when play resumed, she made one of her late breaks again. But Gauff won the next two games, to lift a prestigious trophy which propelled her onto the podium in women’s tennis.