America’s Coco Gauff has reached her first Grand Slam quarter-final at the age of 17 after breezing past a lacklustre Ons Jabeur at the French Open.
The world No.25 produced a vintage service display as she clinched the 6-3, 6-1, victory in less than an hour. Against her rival, Gauff impressive won 78% of her service points and blasted 15 winners. She also capitalised on some below-par play from Jabeur who produced a costly 21 unforced errors. Gauff has now won 16 matches on the clay so far this season which is the second highest on the WTA Tour after Spain’s Paula Badosa.
“I’m super happy that I am able to reach my first (Grand Slam) quarter-final. I played really well today, so I’m happy about that,” the teenager said during her on-court interview.
“Parma gave me a lot of confidence, especially on the clay. It was my first title won on the clay. It taught me a lot about how to close matches and deal with pressure points.” She added.
The clash was a battle of the former junior champions. Jabeur clinched the girls title back in 2011 to become the first Arab player in history to do so. Seven years later it was Guaff’s turn to prevail when she was just 14. Since then, the two players have clashed on the Tour three times within the past 12 months with the Tunisian winning two of those meetings.
In their latest encounter Gauff, who is playing in her seventh Grand Slam main draw, got off to a perfect start by breaking a nerve-stricken Jabeur with relative ease to open up a 3-0 lead. The American had a chance to seal a double break but failed to convert as Jabeur started to find her footing in the match. Nevertheless, the early break was enough of a margin for Gauff to seal the opening set which she closed out with a love service game. Overall, the American lost just five points behind her serve during the first set.
Continuing to dictate proceedings the teenager raced through the second frame as Jabeur struggled to find her range. In just 20 minutes Gauff stormed to a set and 4-1 lead. Moving to a game from victory, a Jabeur backhand error handed Gauff two match points but she was unable to convert either of them. A third opportunity came and went before she prevailed on her fourth with the help of a forehand shot that Jabeur was unable to return.
Gauff will take on Czech underdog Barbora Krejčíková in the quarter-finals who thrashed former runner-up Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-0. Krejcikova recently won her maiden WTA title in Strasburg and has now beaten two seeded players at the French Open. Prior to Stephens, she also dismissed fifth seed Elina Svitolina in straight sets.
