Coco Gauff defeats Karolina Muchova, gets  Aryna Sabalenka in U.S. Open final

Coco Gauff has made the 2023 U.S. Open her own, and now she is one victory away from making that official for posterity.

The 19-year-old American reached her first Open final on Thursday night with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Karolina Muchova in the first women’s semifinal at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

In Saturday’s final she will face No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka, who beat American Madison Keys, the 17th seed, 0-6, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (5).

It was a stunning turn of events for Keys, who dominated early and led the second set, 5-3, before the soon-to-be world No. 1 recovered and won two tiebreakers easily.

Gauff advanced to her second career major final, having played in and lost one at the French Open in 2022. She now is 17-1 since losing in the first round at Wimbledon.

Gauff converted her sixth and final match point one point after winning a 40-shot rally at deuce in the 12th game of the second set.

“There were a lot of emotional challenges in the match,” she said later. “But I think I did a good job of staying focused. I'm just really proud of myself today.”

One of those challenges came after Gauff won the first game of the second set, with a 49-minute delay caused by environmental protesters in the upper deck.

Play was stopped at 8:05 p.m. Both players eventually left the court awaiting a resolution as officials appeared to be talking to a man in the seats.

The original group of protesters wore shirts that read, “End Fossil Fuels.”

The USTA said later that there were four protesters and three were “escorted out of the stadium without further incident.”

But, it said, “the fourth protester affixed their bare feet to the floor of the seating bowl. Due to the nature of this action, NYPD and medical personnel were needed in order to safely remove this individual from the stadium.”

The final protester was led out in handcuffs at about 8:43 p.m., allowing the players to return to the court to warm up for a resumption of play.

Gauff said she thought something like that might happen after similar protests at the French Open and Wimbledon.

“I always speak about preaching about what you feel and what you believe in,” she said. “It was done in a peaceful way, so I can't get too mad at it.

“Obviously, I don't want it to happen when I'm winning up 6-4, 1-0, and I wanted the momentum to keep going. But hey, if that's what they felt they needed to do to get their voices heard, I can't really get upset at it.”

Gauff, the No. 6 seed, went up 5-1 in the first set, but Muchova, the 10th seed, won three games in a row to get within 5-4.

At that point, Gauff appeared to be in trouble. But just as suddenly as Muchova got back into the match, she was taken out of it. Gauff broke her yet again, this time at love, to close out the set.

When Gauff broke Muchova to go up 5-3 in the second, all appeared lost for the Czech. But Muchova broke back to make it 5-4, saving a match point.

Gauff failed to convert four more match points in the 12th game before setting up the final one with that long, dramatic rally.

One point later, it was over.

Gauff said she is better prepared to win a title than she was in Paris last year.

“I really believe that now I have the maturity and ability to do it,” she said. “Regardless of what happens on Saturday, I'm really proud of how I have been handling the last few weeks.”

shot rally at deuce in the 12th game of the second set.

After Gauff won the first game of the second set, there was a 49-minute delay caused by environmental protesters in the upper deck.

Play was stopped at 8:05 p.m. Both players eventually left the court awaiting a resolution as officials appeared to be talking to a man in the seats.

The protesters wore shirts that read, “End Fossil Fuels.”

The USTA said later that there were four protesters and three were “escorted out of the stadium without further incident.”

But, it said, “the fourth protester affixed their bare feet to the floor of the seating bowl. Due to the nature of this action, NYPD and medical personnel were needed in order to safely remove this individual from the stadium.”

The final protester was led out in handcuffs at about 8:43 p.m., finally allowing the players to return to the court to warm up for a resumption of play.

Gauff told ESPN after the match that she had told herself on Thursday morning there likely would be an environmental protest at the Open final, knowing there had been ones at the French Open and Wimbledon this year. She was off by one round.

“Something this morning told me it was going to happen this weekend,” she said.

She said she treated the incident like a rain delay but was thrown off by the uncertainty over when the match would resume.

“I didn’t know how to warm up or prepare,” she said. “ I didn’t know whether to eat or not.”

Gauff, the No. 6 seed, went up 5-1 in the first set, but Muchova, the 10th seed, won three games in a row to get within 5-4.

At that point, Gauff appeared to be in trouble, having lost 12 of her last 15 points. But then just as suddenly as Muchova got back into the match, she was taken out of it. Gauff broke her yet again, this time at love, to close out the set.

Gauff struggled at times with her forehand, while Muchova’s backhand frequently betrayed her.

When Gauff broke Muchova to go up 5-3 in the second, all appeared lost for the Czech. But Muchova broke back to make it 5-4, saving a match point.

Gauff failed to convert four more match points in the 12th game before setting up the final one with that long, dramatic rally.

One point later, it was over.

“I learned a lot from the past in my final at the French Open,” Gauff said on ESPN. “I think I put too much on the moment. Saturday I’m going to go out there and play like just another tennis match.”

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.