Winning your first Grand Slam tournament is in itself an unforgettable event. Doing it in your country adds a unique emotion. This is what the American Coco Gauff, winner of the US Open, felt thanks to her victory in the final, Saturday September 9 in New York, over the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka in three sets: 2-6, 6-3 , 6-2.
Coco Gauff had played the final at Roland-Garros in 2022, but had never passed the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows. At 19, she will be 3e Monday, the best ranking of his career. Aryna Sabalenka, despite the defeat, will be world number 1.
The Belarusian had however started this final perfectly by pounding his opponent with his devastating forehand. Despite Gauff’s heroic defense, and unforced errors linked to his risky play, Sabalenka concluded the first set with a score of 6-2.
The Sabalenka machine goes wrong
The 24,000 spectators at the Arthur-Ashe court, including director Spike Lee, NBA player Kevin Durant, actresses Diane Keaton and Nicole Kidman, were a little groggy at the Belarusian’s display of power.
But the machine then went haywire in the face of the resilience of the American who managed to break her opponent at 3-1 in the second set. A lead that she kept until the end to win 6-3, taking advantage of the 16e unforced error of his opponent’s set, and thus equalize at one set everywhere.
In the last set, Sabalenka lost her footing by conceding her two service games. At 4-0, Coco Gauff only had to control a gentle end to the match. Sabalenka’s call to a doctor to have her inner left thigh massaged won’t change anything. After two hours of fighting, Coco Gauff was able to celebrate a magnificent success on a final winning point symbolizing her self-sacrifice.
” I am still shocked “
Corie − nicknamed “Coco” − Gauff is the youngest American to win the US Open since 1999 when her idol Serena Williams won, at almost 18 years old, the first of her twenty-three Grand Slam titles, including six at Flushing Meadows.
“This means so much to me, I’m still in shockexplained Coco Gauff on the court just after her victory. My defeat [en finale] of Roland-Garros was hard to take, and that makes this moment even sweeter. »
The young Floridian ends with fireworks an American summer tour launched by a flamboyant month of August with two titles up for grabs: Washington and the WTA 1000 in Cincinnati, where she beat world number 1 Iga Swiatek in the semi-final .
And she will also be world number 1 in doubles, with her partner and compatriot Jessica Pegula after reaching the quarter-finals in New York.