Coco Gauff continued her run of emphatic victories at the US Open, breezing past Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets.
The world No.6 didn’t lose a game in the opening set before wrapping up a convincing 6-0 6-2 victory to book her first ever semi-final spot at the US Open.
However, Ostapenko, who defeated world No.1 Iga Swiatek last round in a match that wrapped up after midnight local time on Sunday, pointed to scheduling issues and the sunshine on court for her dismal showing.
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“Today was not really good match from me,” Ostapenko said.
“I think it’s really hard to recover from those night matches, because after beating world No.1, I went to sleep at, like, 5 in the morning.
“You sleep for, I don’t know, 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. I think it’s a little bit crazy.”
She added: “I was pretty sure I’m gonna play at night session, because that’s what they told me.
“When I saw the schedule I was a little bit surprised, not in a really good way.”
Ostapenko also had an issue with the conditions.
“It was very hard to see the ball, because half of the court was in the shadow and half was in the sun,” she said.
“I felt like I was reacting too late because of the shadow.”
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Gauff, 19, will now face either Sorana Cîrstea or this year’s French Open runner-up Karolína Muchová in the next round.
“I’m so happy,” Gauff said in her on-court interview after the win. “Last year I lost in the quarter-finals. I’m happy and ready to get back to work on the next one.”
“Honestly, I didn’t feel comfortable at all during the match – even on the match points,” Gauff added.
“I know the game [Ostapenko] plays. She has the ability to come back no matter the scoreline, so I was just trying to get every point, put every ball in.
“It’s really tough against her because you can’t really be aggressive, so I was trying my best to be aggressive when I could, and most of the time I was just trying to get the ball deep. She’s a tough player and she had a great tournament.”
With the victory, Gauff becomes the first American teenager to reach the US Open semifinals since Serena Williams in 2001.
It’s also just the second time in Gauff’s career that she has made it to the semi-final stage of a grand slam – the last coming at Roland-Garros in 2022, where she eventually lost in the final to Iga Świątek.
* Additional reporting by CNN