Coco Gauff ’s game was a misshapen mess. She had 51 unforced errors and just 17 winners in the three-hour eight-minute clash against the spirited Marta Kostyuk in the Australian Open quarterfinals.
The 19-year-old’s serve strayed under the Melbourne sun and her shots weren’t quite finding the court, but her wheels — industrious and clocking highway speeds – steered the fourth seed into the semifinals
Kostyuk, an adventurous shot maker, went up 5-1 in the opening set. The Ukrainian had a couple of opportunities to serve out the set and even came close with a set point.
The American fought back one-game-at-a-time and levelled at 5-all. In the tie-break, Kostyuk, some 30 minutes after her first set point, had another chance to close, but Gauff pedaled furiously.
The 21-year-old, in a luminous pink dress, rallied to close out the second set to take the match into the decider.
In the end Kostyuk was running on empty. Gauff, playing in a canary yellow two piece that sparked the weather, gave her game a ‘C’ rating on Tuesday. Her fight fuelled her 7-6 (6), 6-7 (3) and 6-2 win that takes her through to Thursday’s clash against the defending champion Aryna Sabalenka.
The Belarusian, in red-hot form, shut out Czech Barbora Krejcikova 6-2, 6-3 in a night match