Google News Coco Gauff makes deeply honest admission after destroying Jelena Ostapenko at US Open
by DZEVAD MESIC
Coco Gauff admitted she "did not feel comfortable all" until she finished the match against Jelena Ostapenko. Gauff, ranked at No 6 in the world, demolished 2017 French Open champion Ostapenko 6-0 6-2 in the US Open quarterfinal.
Ostapenko, ranked at No 21 in the world, is well-known for her extremely aggressive style of tennis. Because of that and because of the fact that Ostapenko defeated world No 1 Iga Swiatek just a round earlier, Gauff remained fully locked in and focused throughout the entire match despite her the heavy lead.
“It feels great. I’m so happy. Last year I lost at the quarter-final stage, I wanted to do better this year. I still have a long way to go, but I’m happy and I’m ready to get back to work for the next one!
Honestly, I didn’t feel comfortable at all, the whole match – even when up the match points. I know the game she plays, she has the ability to come back, no matter the scoreline. I was just trying to play every ball, trying my best to be as aggressive as I could.
She is a tough player, she had a great tournament," Gauff said after beating Ostapenko.
Gauff dominated Ostapenko
Gauff started her US Open quarterfinal match against Ostapenko in an astonishingly impressive way as the American broke the Latvian three times and didn't allow a single break point en route to winning the first set without a dropped game.
After easily winning the first set, Gauff also broke Ostapenko in the first game of the second set. In the second game of the second set, Ostapenko broke back Gauff to finally win her first game of the match. But Ostapenko winning a game didn't change much as Gauff again broke the Latvian in the third game to open a 2-1 lead. Gauff broke Ostapenko again in the seventh gam for a 5-2 lead before serving out for the match in the following game.