U.S. tennis player Coco Gauff wins U.S. Open women's singles tournament

Monday, September 11, 2023

Gauff (left) last month during practice and Sabalenka (right) earlier in the U.S. Open.
Image: Amaury Laporte / Hameltion.

U.S. tennis player Coco Gauff won against Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka in the U.S. Open Saturday in the women's singles final at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York, New York. Gauff, in a three-set match, scored 2–6, 6–3, and 6–2 for her first Grand Slam trophy.

After winning the match, Gauff said, "I feel like I'm a little bit in shock in this moment". She added, "I'm just thankful for this moment, I don't have any words for it, to be honest".

Before Gauff, 19, the last U.S. teenager to play in the U.S. Open women's final was Serena Williams, then 19, who played her older sister Venus Williams in 2001, and Gauff was the first to win since the younger Williams sister in 1999.

On Tuesday, Gauff had defeated Jeļena Ostapenko from Latvia in two sets, 6–0 and 6–2, advancing her to the semifinals to play Czechian player Karolína Muchová. Thursday, Gauff defeated Muchová, again across two sets, moving her to Saturday's final.

Sabalenka, 25, played the U.S. Open semifinals last year and 2021 and first took a career Grand Slam title at this January's Australian Open.

After the match, Sabalenka said, "I'm most proud that I was able to most of the times handle my emotions pretty well and focus on myself, not on the ranking". She said of her match, "Today on the court, I was overthinking and I was missing ... balls I shouldn't be missing".


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