American Coco Gauff, 23rd in the world at 18, qualified Thursday at Roland-Garros for her first Grand Slam final, where she will challenge world No. 1 Iga Swiatek.
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Gauff beat Italy’s Martina Trevisan (59th) 6-3, 6-1 in 1:28 to become the youngest Parisian clay court finalist since Kim Clijsters in 2001 and the youngest Major finalist since Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon in 2004.
“I’m in shock…I don’t have words to express how I feel,” said the American, who hasn’t lost a single set of the tournament in six games.
“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 28-year-old Italian, but she committed too many unforced errors (36) to really doubt her opponent, titled at Roland-Garros in juniors in 2018.
In the first round, by dint of contesting balls and lengthily having the marks checked, 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, Gauff did it twice while Trevisan, physically diminished at the end, only succeeded once, in the very first game of the part.
After a medical timeout between the two sets to assess the injury to his right thigh, Trevisan had a big bandage put on 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 until the very long fourth game (15 minutes) where she had four balls to come back to 2-2, but where she conceded her bet in play on the fourth break point, letting his opponent escape.
As for the looming final, Gauff approaches it recklessly: “I’m going to go there thinking it’s just another game,” she said. Another game not quite like the others.
