Coco Gauff managed to survive a three-set thriller in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open on Monday to advance to her first semifinal at the major.
She’ll now face off against defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in a rematch of the U.S. Open final, which the 19-year-old won in three sets for her first Grand Slam title.
“I love it. I love it,” Sabalenka said of the showdown with Gauff. “After U.S. Open, I really wanted that revenge, and, I mean, that’s a great match.”
It wasn’t an easy road to get there in what was an error-plagued match. Down 5-1 in the first set, Gauff rallied to take the first set 7-6(6). She would lose the second before easily taking the third set to win the match.
The quarterfinal lasted more than three hours, but extends Gauff’s winning streak at majors to 12 matches.
Gauff had just 17 winners as opposed to 51 unforced errors and nine double-faults.
“Today was definitely a C-game,” Gauff said. “Didn’t play my best tennis but really proud that I was able to get through. Hopefully got the bad match out of the way and I can play even better.”
Still, Gauff was proud of the fight she showed against Marta Kostyuk, who has also been on a career-best stretch.
“I’m really happy and proud of the fight I showed today,” Gauff said on…
