Coco Gauff returned to the scene of her grand slam breakthrough on a rain-lashed Tuesday night and safely cleared the first hurdle toward another, launching her pursuit of a second US Open ******* le in four years with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Turkey's Zeynep Sonmez beneath the closed roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The 22-year-old American, seeded fourth in New York, arrived with momentum and expectation running particularly high, fresh off her first ******* le of the year in Cincinnati and having shown encouraging signs that the serve which has so often dictated the rest of her game is becoming a more reliable weapon. Now, three years after she first lifted the trophy here, both a third major championship and the world No 1 ranking are within her reach.
Gauff got off to a confident start before a buzzing crowd, crunching a pair of early aces in a love hold, but the 54th-ranked Sonmez held her own in the muscular baseline exchanges throughout the opening five games. Gauff took control in the sixth, breaking her opponent's serve without dropping a point, then steadied herself through an uneven service game to move to the brink of the set at 5-2. Sonmez held to prolong it, but Gauff calmly served it out after 33 minutes as the heavy rainfall pounding the roof overhead reverberated through Ashe like the inside of a bass drum.
The second set was less straightforward. Gauff broke immediately and appeared poised to pull away, but Sonmez responded by attacking the net and taking advantage of a sudden dip in the American's level, breaking back for 2-all with a searing backhand winner. Gauff then had to dig out of a marathon 16-point service game at 2-3, saving three break points before finally escaping with a 115mph ace down the middle to complete the hold for 3-all. "I knew if I could hold that game, I felt confident breaking the next game," Gauff said.
That proved prescient. Sonmez double-faulted twice in the next game to surrender the critical break, before Gauff consolidated for 5-3 and shortly after held at love to close the show after 1hr 20min.
#hold #title
The 22-year-old American, seeded fourth in New York, arrived with momentum and expectation running particularly high, fresh off her first ******* le of the year in Cincinnati and having shown encouraging signs that the serve which has so often dictated the rest of her game is becoming a more reliable weapon. Now, three years after she first lifted the trophy here, both a third major championship and the world No 1 ranking are within her reach.
Gauff got off to a confident start before a buzzing crowd, crunching a pair of early aces in a love hold, but the 54th-ranked Sonmez held her own in the muscular baseline exchanges throughout the opening five games. Gauff took control in the sixth, breaking her opponent's serve without dropping a point, then steadied herself through an uneven service game to move to the brink of the set at 5-2. Sonmez held to prolong it, but Gauff calmly served it out after 33 minutes as the heavy rainfall pounding the roof overhead reverberated through Ashe like the inside of a bass drum.
The second set was less straightforward. Gauff broke immediately and appeared poised to pull away, but Sonmez responded by attacking the net and taking advantage of a sudden dip in the American's level, breaking back for 2-all with a searing backhand winner. Gauff then had to dig out of a marathon 16-point service game at 2-3, saving three break points before finally escaping with a 115mph ace down the middle to complete the hold for 3-all. "I knew if I could hold that game, I felt confident breaking the next game," Gauff said.
That proved prescient. Sonmez double-faulted twice in the next game to surrender the critical break, before Gauff consolidated for 5-3 and shortly after held at love to close the show after 1hr 20min.
#hold #title
2 hours ago
