Coco Gauff swooped past world no. 10 Karolina Muchova to secure a shot at the US OPEN women’s singles championship this weekend. She’ll face world no. 2 Aryna Sabalenka.
Gauff’s win did not come without a certain amount of agita. Climate change advocates who chained themselves to their seats and cemented their feet to the floor in the upper reaches of Arthur Ashe stadium halted play for what seemed an interminable amount of time. The confusing kerfuffle sent players back to the locker room where they frustratingly attempted warmups to maintain their game readiness.
Once the match resumed, it was as if nothing had happened, at least as far as Coco was concerned. Her normally jittery dad could even be seen in a good spirits socializing with friends in one of the upper boxes while his former charge, now shepherded by veteran Tennis Svengali Brad Gilbert, conducted a virtual clinic in modern American tennis acumen before the bewildered Czhek.
A resounding straight set 6-4,7-5 win puts Coco in the enviable and history-making position of being the first teen since Serena to make the US OPEN FINALS in nearly 20 years.
