With loud cries, carried by an audience who only wanted to see her triumph, Coco Gauff finally beat Iga Swiatek (7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4), Saturday, in the semi-finals of Cincinnati . The young American (19 years old) faced a terrible statistic with seven defeats for zero victory when entering the court against the Pole. But she was able, this time, to get into the fight and take advantage of the mistakes of the world No. 1 to climb for the first time in her career in the final of a WTA 1000.
The Pole, at the end of a hung first act where she made the break several times without managing to hold it, was surprised in a decisive game that she should not necessarily have played. Because before getting there, she had two set points, on the face-off from the American, which she was unable to make use of. In the tie-break, she showed a level that was far too erratic to hope to take control of the match.
But the world No. 1 was able to quickly forget this failure to remobilize. Result, a little less faults and a break very early in this second round which, this time, she kept. As a boss, she was going to equalize with a sublime return on a forehand shift.
A highly disputed end to the match
The sequel was again more balanced with a Gauff who seemed to have partly solved her deficiencies behind her second ball. She clung to the score and took advantage of the opening when she showed up. At 3-3 on her service game, Swiatek made several errors and lost her face-off. She then put enormous pressure on Gauff on hers.
In front (40-0), the American saw the Polish come back on her heels and then offer herself a break point. Gauff saved her but her double fault moments later showed her nervousness and she exploded when she managed to keep her service game. Same tension when she served for the match but the deliverance, total, came on her fourth match point. She will play the trophy against Aryna Sabalenka or Karolina Muchova.
