It’s a great first for a barely legal player. At just 18 years old, Cori Gauff qualified this Thursday for the Roland-Garros final by dominating the Italian Martina Trevisa in two sets (6-3/6-1). She will therefore play the very first final of her Grand Slam career on Saturday against the Polish and world number 1, Iga Swiatek (21 years old).
Coco Gauff joins Iga Swiatek in the Roland-Garros final! She beats Trevisan 6-3, 6-1 to become the youngest finalist since 2001 #Roland Garrospic.twitter.com/A0HMRL25uc
— Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) June 2, 2022
This success, obtained in 1h28, makes Cori Gauff the youngest finalist on Parisian clay since Kim Clijsters in 2001 and the youngest finalist of a Grand Slam since Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon in 2004. “I am in shock …I have no words to express how I feel,” said the American, who hasn’t lost a set in the tournament.
“I wasn’t very nervous…a little this morning, but I went for a walk and it relaxed me,” she said. The score is severe for the Italian Martina Trevisan (28 years old) but the 59th player in the world has committed too many unforced errors (36) to really doubt her opponent, already titled at Roland-Garros in juniors in 2018.
Trevisan, physically impaired
In the first round, by dint of contesting a few refereeing decisions, Gauff irritated the public who gradually lined up behind the Italian until they made her their favorite. But in a set where the most difficult thing was to keep his face-off, Trevisan, physically diminished at the end, only succeeded once, in the very first game of the game. After a medical timeout between the two sets to assess the injury to his right thigh, the Transalpine had a big bandage applied to the change of sides at 2-1 for Gauff.
Supported by the public, particularly on the key points where she was in danger, Trevisan held on until the very long fourth game (15 minutes) where she had four balls to come back to 2-2 but where she conceded her game on the fourth break point, letting his opponent escape. As for the looming final, Gauff approaches it with carelessness: “I’m going to go there thinking it’s just another game,” she said.