The 19-year-old U.S. Open winner overcame 51 unforced errors, nine double-faults and had just 17 winners to beat Marta Kostyuk Tuesday in a 3-hour, 8-minute quarterfinal match.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) —
“Today was definitely a C game,” Gauff said. “Didn’t play my best tennis but really proud that I was able to get through. Hopefully got the bad match out of the way and I can play even better.”
Gauff’s forehand was particularly vulnerable and Kostyuk took full advantage, racing to 5-1 only to show her own fragility with two double faults to hand back one of the breaks.
She recovered to save a set point at 5-3 before leveling at 5-5. Kostyuk had another set point in the tiebreaker but Gauff won it.
The mistakes continued to flow, and though she led 5-3 in the second set, Gauff could not close it out. She was two points from victory at 6-5, 40-40, but Kostyuk held and took the tiebreak 7-3 to level.
The Ukrainian player said she was pleased to have made the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.
“Very proud of myself,” she said. “I won for myself today and it’s the most important thing. It’s just the beginning of the season. Looking forward for what’s ahead.”
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