Coco Gauff duplicates Serena Williams' feat by reaching U.S. Open semis

Coco Gauff wasn’t even born the last time an American teen did this.

It wasn’t close, either: Serena Williams made it to the U.S. Open semifinals in 2001 and Gauff wouldn’t come into the world until 2004. But 19 years later, against Jelena Ostapenko at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Gauff was able to replicate Williams’ feat — becoming the first American teen since 2001, male or female, to get two matches away from victory here at Flushing Meadows. Now, she'll try to replicate Williams' even more remarkable feat, becoming the first American teen to win the Open  since the best to ever play the game did it at age 17 in 1999.  

The  No. 6-seeded Gauff, who dominated Ostapenko in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2, continues a torrid stretch of 10 tour victories in a row. She also further solidifies her position as this sport’s future while becoming a favorite to win what would be her first Grand Slam tournament. (She reached  the French Open finals in 2022 before losing to Iga Swiatek, who was ousted by Ostapenko Sunday.)

Gauff’s semifinal opponent will be No. 10 seed Karolina Muchova, who defeated Sorana Cirstea, 6-0, 6-3, Tuesday night.

It was also Gauff’s 15th singles victory over her last 16 matches — a span that includes a finals win at the Washington Open in August, her first WTA 500 singles title. She’s dropped just three sets over her first five matches in this tournament and only No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, who plays Wednesday against No. 23 Qinwen Zheng, is ranked higher of the remaining players.

“It means a lot to me to be the first since Williams," Gauff said. “She’s the greatest player of all time. I'm nothing close to that yet. I'm just really honored to be in the same sentence as her . . . I never take it for granted. She's my idol. I think if you told me when I was younger that I would be in the same stat lines as her, I would freak out.”

Gauff’s defense and poise proved the difference from the start, as she dispatched Ostapenko, ranked 20th, in just 20 minutes in the first set. The Latvian, who bemoaned the noon start time after playing a night match Sunday, committed 36 unforced errors.

 Ostapenko said she had learned Tuesday morning that she was slated for the day session, and barely had time to recover after defeating the top-seeded  Swiatek in three sets Sunday. After that  match, she said she was told she’d play again Tuesday night.

“When I saw the schedule, I was a little bit surprised, not in a really good way,” Ostapenko said. “Today was not really a good match from me. I think it's really hard to recover from those night matches, because after beating world No. 1, I went to sleep at 5 in the morning, and still, you sleep for maybe like seven, eight hours, but you completely don't recover. Yesterday, the whole day I felt very low energy. I thought today I was going to wake up and feel better. But honestly, I didn't really feel much better.”

Ostapenko, 26, said she lacked concentration and struggled with the light — with the sun high in the sky, half of Ashe was bathed in bright sunlight, and half was in shadows. The roof stayed open, despite temperatures that reached over 90 degrees, but it felt hotter than 100 degrees on the court, according to the broadcast.

“Honestly, I was expecting a little bit more from her today,” Ostapenko said of Gauff. “I felt like she had a little bit, like, a lot of pressure because obviously to play at home is not easy, as I experienced it before myself . . . She's a great player. She's still very young. But I mean, as I said, the score is what it is, but so many games, especially in the second set, I had so many chances and I was missing the balls which I normally am not missing.”

Like Ostapenko, Gauff has had an exhausting schedule, having played a doubles match the day prior (she and partner Jessica Pegula are into the quarterfinals and will play again Wednesday). She hasn't lost a step, though — a credit to her youth, yes, but Gauff also said her ability to stay fresh is partially due to her mindset.

“I wish I embraced the fun parts a little bit sooner,” she said. “[In] sports in general you feel like you have to be — especially individual sports — you don't have the one teammate that always is making jokes or the one teammate that maybe messes up at the wrong moment where you can laugh at. So, it's really just you. I feel like now I'm just being all those types of teammates for myself and I'm enjoying it. I thought to play and win you have to be ultra-serious and ultra-focused, which, that is true, but also you still have to enjoy it. I think that's been the change — that I'm having more fun.”

And nothing, it turns out, is more fun than winning.

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.