Garcia remains red hot, beats Gauff to reach US Open semi-finals

Caroline Garcia defeats Coco Gauff in straight sets during quarter-final action at the US Open on Tuesday night. Garcia will go up against Ons Jabeur in the semis.

Caroline Garcia, US Open 2022 | © AI / Reuters / Panoramic

Ricky Dimon

September 7, 2022

Caroline Garcia is looking like she cannot be stopped.

Playing the best tennis of her life right now, Garcia is following up her title in Cincinnati with a breakthrough run at the US Open. The Frenchwoman is through to her first semi-final in New York after defeating Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-4 on Tuesday night in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Garcia advanced after one hour and 37 minutes.

✈️ flying into the semis!@CaroGarcia | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/PryjllRBZh
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 7, 2022

GARCIA DOMINATES IN ALL ASPECTS OTHER THAN FIRST-SERVE PERCENTAGE

Somewhat surprisingly, Garcia was in complete control of the match from start to finish even though she did not serve well. The world No 17 put in only 52 percent of her first serves, whereas Gauff served at 78 percent. Normally that would be decisive statistic, especially for two players who serve big. In this case, though, Garcia overcame it by dominating in all other areas of the match. She won 78 percent of her first-serve points and 44 percent when she had to toss in a second delivery. By comparison, Gauff had respective totals of 64 percent and 27 percent.

The only time Garcia got broken was when she was already leading by a double-break in the first set, so that lone hiccup hardly mattered. She was more aggressive than Gauff, striking 24 winners to the American’s 18 and winning 13 of 16 net points while her opponent won just 6 of 11 at net. Despite that aggressiveness, the 17th seed made fewer unforced errors than Gauff (22 to 24)

Next up for Garcia is the semi-finals against Ons Jabeur, who ended Ajla Tomljanovic’s run with a straight-set victory during the afternoon session.

I think it makes me want to work even harder.
Coco Gauff

“I’m super happy about the win (and) to be in the semifinal,” Garcia said. “It was a very intense match. 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. I’ve been able to play my game, and that’s very important for me.

“The path is very clear right now, which direction I have to go, under stress, under pressure. I’m just trying to follow this path. That’s how we prepare with the team. We try to do the best we can in this direction.”

The path to a Grand Slam title ends — at least for now — for Gauff, who was ultimately trying to go one step farther than her French Open runner-up performance.

“Overall I’m super proud of myself [for] this tournament,” the 18-year-old reflected. “But I’m hungry for more. So maybe next year…. For me it’s hard to balance being proud and being disappointed. So I think I’m learning more to not be so much disappointed in myself. Really I’m just proud of how I was able to come through this week…. First quarterfinal, too, at the US Open — so there’s a lot to be proud of.

“But, like I said, (I’m) definitely disappointed. I think it makes me want to work even harder. I feel like I know what I have to do.”