Coco Gauff is into the U.S. Open final for the first time in her career and finds herself one win away from capturing her first Grand Slam title.
Standing in her way is none other than the woman who will be No. 1 in the world on Monday–regardless of Saturday’s outcome.
Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka will be squaring off for the sixth time in their careers when they battle for the trophy in New York City. Sabalenka dominated their most recent meeting 6-4, 6-0 earlier this season in Indian Wells, but Gauff still leads the head-to-head series 3-2 and all of their other encounters have been competitive. In fact, two have required third-set tiebreakers (those two showdowns were split).
Speaking of third-set ‘breakers, that is what Sabalenka needed on Thursday night in order to reach the final. Facing Madison Keys, the second-ranked Belarusian lost the first set 6-0 and trailed 5-3 in the second before storming back for an 0-6, 7-6(1), 7-6(10-5) victory.
While the new rankings will say that Sabalenka is the best, Gauff has without question been the best player on tour since Wimbledon. She is 17-1 on hard courts this summer, with titles in Washington, D.C. and Cincinnati. The 19-year-old has lost only to Jessica Pegula during her hot streak and she boasts wins over Belinda Bencic, Maria Sakkari, Marketa Vondrousova, Iga Swiatek, and Karolina Muchova twice (in the Cincinnati final and the U.S. Open semis).
Gauff’s run to Saturday’s championship match was hardly routine, however. She went to three sets with Laura Siegemund, Elise Mertens, and Caroline Wozniacki. The world No. 6 then raised her level to erase Jelena Ostapenko 6-0, 6-2 before holding off Muchova 6-4, 7-5.
Although still a teenager and with time on her side, there is more pressure on Gauff. She has never won a slam, whereas Sabalenka is the reigning Australian Open champion. It’s a difficult matchup for the American, too. Few players can hit through Gauff’s defense, but no one–except maybe Keys–wields as much power as Sabalenka. In hot, fast conditions, offense may beat defense.
This will almost certainly be way more competitive than the Indian Wells match, but a slight edge goes to Sabalenka.
Pick: Sabalenka in 3
WWW: Gauff vs. Keys?
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