Coco Gauff won the women’s singles final at the 2023 U.S. Open on Saturday, outlasting Aryna Sabalenka in three sets (2-6, 6-3, 6-2) to claim her first major singles title. Here’s what you need to know:
- Gauff, 19, became the youngest American women’s singles winner at the U.S. Open since 17-year-old Serena Williams won it in 1999. She is the 10th teenager to win the women’s tournament.
- Gauff won three matches during the tournament after losing the first set.
- The Belarusian Sabalenka, 25, will become the world No. 1 on Monday in the WTA rankings. She climbs a spot following Iga Swiatek’s loss to Jeļena Ostapenko in the round of 16 on Sunday.
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
How Gauff came back
After getting overwhelmed by Sabalenka’s power game in the first set, Gauff’s speed started wreaking havoc in the second set. She chased down would-be winners, hit them back and started frustrating Sabalenka and coaxing errors out of her to get back into the match. A telling example: With Gauff serving up 3-0 in the third set but down 15-30 on her serve, Sabalenka hit what would’ve been a clean winner against most humans not using a motorized vehicle to track it down. But Gauff got to it, punched it back, Sabalenka didn’t do enough with the ensuing overhead and Gauff…
