New York [US], September 10 : American teenage tennis sensation Coco Gauff secured her maiden US Open title, defeating Aryna Sabalenka in the title clash in New York on Saturday night.
She defeated Gauff by 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 to emerge victorious over soon-to-be number one Sabalenka. This win was Gauff's 12th successive victory.
In a span of 40 days, Gauff has won three huge titles and a total of 18 out of her 19 previous matches. She previously won the Washington Open and Cincinnati Open in August.
When Gauff was 12-years old, she was a 12-Under Junior Orange Bowl title, joining players like Steffi Graf (1981), Monica Seles (1985) and Jennifer Capriati (1986), who later went on to win a total of 34 Grand Slam titles combined. Now, Gauff is in their company with a Major title of their own.
She is the first American teenager to win the US Open singles title this century and only third overall. Serena Williams, another legendary women's American player did it back in 1999 when Gauff was not even born.
Gauff regained her composure after delivering the opening set to Sabalenka. Despite the circumstances, she was calm in the midst of the storm.
Sabalenka committed 16 unforced errors in the deciding set, while Gauff committed two unforced errors. Finally, it was Gauff's tenacious defence that irritated Sabalenka, thereby driving her into a match-high 46 unforced errors.
This was her fourth three-set win in a row, demonstrating her fortitude. Gauff has now defeated Sabalenka once in each of the last four years, which no one else has done.
"Being in any sentence with her is great," Gauff said of her idol Serena as quoted by WTA earlier during the tournament.
"It is something that I am used to a lot. So I am not going to sit here and be like, 'Oh, I am shocked, but I feel like a lot of the stats have aligned with her, and people find new things to think about. I was the first teenager in the quarters and now semis, so I am guessing if I win they are going to be, like, finals. It is just going to keep going. I mean, she is the greatest player of all time. I am nothing close to that yet," she added.
Following the match, she signed tennis balls and took selfies with fans. She will stay world number three among WTA Tour players when new rankings are issued on Monday.
"Honestly, the French Open moment (where she finished runners-up)" she said in her post-match interview.
"I do not know if they caught it on camera but I watched Iga lift up that trophy. I watched her the whole time. I said, 'I’m not going to take my eyes off her, because I want to feel what that felt like for her.' That felt like craziness today lifting this trophy. It has not sunken in and I think it probably will maybe in a week or so," she added.
During the awards ceremony, Gauff made sure that she thanked her doubters.
"Thank you for the people who didn’t believe in me. A month ago, I won a 500 title people said I would stop at that. Two weeks ago, I won a Masters title, and people said that was as big as it was going to get," she said.
"Three weeks later, I am here with this trophy. To those who thought they were putting water on my fire, they were adding gas to it. Now I am burning so bright right now," he concluded.
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