Caroline Garcia will advance to her first major semifinal after defeating Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-4 at the US Open on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old is riding a 13-match winning streak that dates back to her title run at the Cincinnati Open. She next will face No. 5 Ons Jabeur in the semifinals in New York.
Garcia, who began the year ranked No. 74 in the world, is the third French women’s player in the Open era to reach the US Open semifinals, joining Amelie Mauresmo (2002 and 2006) and Mary Pierce (2005).
While Garcia had lost each of her previous two matches against Gauff, she emerged victorious over the American teenager Tuesday night.
“It was a very intense match,” Garcia said. “Every point, every game was really tough. The atmosphere was really American with a lot of energy out there. I’m just very happy with the performance today, to manage the emotion in my game.”
The quarterfinal appearance caps a career year for Gauff, who was runner-up at the French Open in June. Before this year, she hadn’t won a match at Flushing Meadows. But this time around, up until her straight-set loss Tuesday, Gauff hadn’t ceded a set.
“Her level was great and I knew it was going to be great coming in, and I feel like I didn’t play at the level I needed to come out with the win today — but overall I’m super proud of myself for this tournament,” Gauff said. “But I’m hungry for more, so maybe next year.”
Wow. 😱@CaroGarcia is on absolute FIRE 🔥 pic.twitter.com/aAHq2diTJW
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 6, 2022
Garcia ended the match with 24 winners and 22 unforced errors. Gauff, meanwhile, had 18 winners and 24 unforced errors.
“You’re playing someone off the bat, they’re standing on top of the baseline and ripping balls, it’s not easy,” Gauff said. “She has the type of game that you kind of have to adjust to because I feel like it’s not hit-or-miss because she definitely makes more, but you’re hitting a good serve, and sometimes you’re not expecting the ball to come back as fast and as deep as she was hitting it.”