When does Coco Gauff play next in the 2024 French Open?: Who will she face in the semis?
Coco is the only US representative in the second Grand Slam event of the season. She’s two steps away from winning her second major.
Cori Gauff was considered by tennis pundits one of the biggest favorites to win the French Open before the start of the Grand Slam tournament in Paris.
It probably wasn’t difficult to predict that the young American could have a deep run in the French event and the truth is that Gauff hasn’t disappointed.
The US Open 2023 champion has made it to the semifinals after defeating the two-time Roland-Garros quarterfinalist Ons Jabeur. The Tunisian, also a Wimbledon and US Open finalist, won’t be able to clinch her first major title in the French capital, although she put Gauff in trouble in the first set.
However, the 20-year-old Atlanta native corrected her mistakes in the second and third sets to take a ticket to the semifinals.
“She’s a tough opponent and she’s well-loved on tour,” Gauff said after the match.
“(...) I was definitely trying to be more aggressive. She was playing really well the whole match and she was hitting a lot of winners on me, which is something I’m not used to against anybody”, she added.
“Today, I was just trying to be aggressive towards the end. I got a bit tight on the last couple of match points. I think I did what I needed to do to win the match”, the American player stated.
Gauff, against her bête noire in the French Open semifinals
Gauff has reasons to be happy, as she will play in a fourth major semifinal and has a good shot at winning one of the most prestigious tennis tournaments,
However, it won’t be an easy challenge. Gauff will have to deal with the world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who seems unbeatable, especially at the French Open.
The Polish player wants to win her fourth Roland Garros trophy and fifth Grand Slam title. The Warsaw-bred superstar has won her last 17 matches, losing only three sets.
Moreover, Swiatek has dominated Gauff in their head-to-head, with Swiatek winning 10 of the 11 times they have played each other.
The last time they met in the court was at the Italian Open, and the Polish player beat Gauff in straight sets. The American’s only victory over her next opponent was in Cincinnati last year when Coco got the better of Swiatek in three sets. Gauff ended up winning the event putting on impressive performances that would take her to win the US Open later on.