Coco Gauff is the first U.S. teen since Serena Williams to succeed in consecutive U.S. Open quarterfinals

NEW YORK (AP) — Coco Gauff is the primary American teen since Serena Williams greater than 20 years in the past to succeed in the U.S. Open quarterfinals two years in a row, so the 19-year-old from Florida is aware of her method out of hassle on a tennis courtroom.

As the second set slipped away in opposition to Caroline Wozniacki within the fourth spherical Sunday at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Gauff wanted an opportunity to assume issues via after handing over a break with a pair of double-faults and a stumble that left her doing the splits.

So Gauff turned within the route of the near-constant chatter coming from Brad Gilbert, certainly one of her two coaches sitting in a front-row seat, and mentioned, “Please stop.” A few minutes later, Gauff mentioned, “Stop talking.”

That was whereas Wozniacki was grabbing 4 consecutive video games to go up a break within the third set. And then, simply because the match gave the impression to be slipping away thanks partly to a slew of unforced errors, Gauff straightened out her strokes and pulled method. She collected the final six video games for a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Wozniacki, the 33-year-old mom of two who not too long ago got here out of retirement.

“I was getting frustrated. It wasn’t really directed at him. It was just that I needed to reset,” the sixth-seeded Gauff mentioned. “In that moment, I just didn’t want to hear anything. I just wanted to think about what I was doing.”

Her subsequent opponent can be No. 20 seed Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion. Ostapenko beat defending champion Iga Swiatek 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 on Sunday night time, after 23-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic picked up a 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 victory over qualifier Borna Gojo.

Djokovic faces No. 9 Taylor Fritz of the U.S. on Tuesday. It’ll be Djokovic’s thirteenth quarterfinal at Flushing Meadows, and Fritz’s first.

Gauff, whose finest exhibiting at a significant was reaching the ultimate on the 2022 French Open earlier than shedding to Swiatek, has now gained 15 of her previous 16 matches.

That run follows a first-round exit at Wimbledon in July and consists of the 2 largest titles of her profession, on the DC Open and in Cincinnati. It additionally coincides with the additions of Pere Riba as her full-time coach and Gilbert in a job that’s been described as a short lived marketing consultant.

TV microphones have been selecting up Gilbert repeatedly providing his ideas to Gauff throughout matches over the previous week.

Against Wozniacki, the 2018 Australian Open champion and twice the runner-up in New York, Gauff was looking for the appropriate steadiness between being the aggressor (what she wished) and never going for an excessive amount of (what Gilbert wished).

Gilbert’s “scouting reports are quite accurate,” Gauff mentioned. “Sometimes you have to change things up. Today I had to change things up.”

It was the most popular day of the occasion to date, with the temperature reaching 90 levels Fahrenheit (32 Celsius), and Gauff stored lacking the mark within the second set, to the tune of twenty-two unforced errors. But she cleaned that up significantly down the stretch, with simply eight miscues within the final set. Also key within the third: Gauff compiled an 11-2 edge in winners.

“She’s always been a great athlete. She’s always had the backhand, the serve, the fighting spirit,” Wozniacki mentioned. “I feel like right now, it’s all kind of coming together for her.”

In the third set, with the taking part in floor lined in shadows, Wozniacki instructed chair umpire Louise Azemar Engzell it was troublesome to see the ball and requested that the stadium lights be turned on.

“I would really appreciate it,” Wozniacki mentioned.

Didn’t occur.

“She’s back and it’s like she never left,” Gauff mentioned, “To be out here on the court with her today was an honor.”

Another ladies’s quarterfinal matchup can be No. 10 Karolina Muchova in opposition to No. 30 Sorana Cirstea.

There is assured to be not less than one American man within the semifinals for the second 12 months in a row. That’s as a result of No. 10 Frances Tiafoe, who acquired to that stage 12 months in the past, and unseeded Ben Shelton arrange a quarterfinal assembly with wins Sunday.

Fritz made it three males from the United States within the quarterfinals – essentially the most since Andre Agassi, James Blake and Robby Ginepri acquired there in 2005 – by overwhelming Swiss qualifier Dominic Stricker 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4.

In the day’s first match in Ashe, the 20-year-old Shelton hit a pair of aces at 149 mph (240 kph) – the quickest by anybody all event – in a single recreation and earned a debut journey to the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows by eliminating No. 14 Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

When the match ended, the muscle-shirt-wearing Shelton flexed his left biceps whereas standing below the part of seats the place his father, a former touring professional who now coaches Ben, mom and sister have been.