Tennis: Gauff beats Sabalenka at US Open and wins his first Grand Slam tournament

The American nugget Coco Gauff won, Saturday, September 9, the tournament of the US Open by beating in the final the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (2-6, 6-3, 6-2). The 6th player in the world wins, at only 19 years old, her first Grand Slam title.

American Coco Gauff defeated Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka in New York in the final of the US Open on September 9, 2023. AP - John Minchillo

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Great first for Cori "Coco" Gauff. Unfortunate finalist of the 2022 edition of Roland-Garros, the tennis player did not experience the same misadventure at home, Saturday, September 9, 2023, for her first final of the US Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the year. While she had never made it past the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows in her first five appearances, the American won in three sets in the final against Aryna Sabalenka.

Coco Gauff is the youngest American to win the US Open since Serena Williams in 1999, when she won the first of her six titles at Flushing Meadows. The young Floridian ends in fireworks a summer American tour launched by a flamboyant month of August with two titles to the key: Washington and the WTA 1000 of Cincinnati, where she beat the world number 1, Iga Swiatek, in the semis.

Aryna Sabalenka, 25, was also playing her first final in New York after losing in the semifinals of the last two editions. She tried throughout the match to outflank Gauff, but the American's defense got the better of the Belarusian who scuttled with direct fouls (46 in total against 19 for Gauff).

It's all about the company you keep. 😄 pic.twitter.com/S59CgrtmoZ

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 9, 2023

One set to understand, two to win

However, at the beginning of the finals, the Atlanta native, supported by the 24,000 spectators of the Arthur-Ashe court among which the director Spike Lee or the NBA player Kevin Durant, the actresses Diane Keaton and Nicole Kidman, was totally overwhelmed by Sabalenka who, with his great powerful shots, immediately took the game to his account, while the American was content to put the ball back, if possible in the court.

But the Belarusian, despite winning the first set, committed so many direct faults that she kept her opponent in the match. Gauff did not give up, realizing that it was enough for him to make his opponent play. And in the second set, she managed the break to lead 3-1 by taking advantage of a double fault from Sabalenka. A 16th direct fault of his opponent's set allowed him to tie at one set all over.

In the aftermath, the American, buoyed by her momentum, took her opponent's serve twice. Sabalenka eventually stopped the spiral and won her service game, but brought the doctor to the court to have her left thigh massaged, displaying the face of a player at least as resigned as she was in pain.

However, when the game resumed, she remade one of her late breaks. But Coco Gauff won the next two games, to go and lift a prestigious trophy that propelled her to the podium of women's tennis. Radiant, the champion of the day savored her trophy and said at the microphone: "Those who wanted to put water in my gas, you only poured gasoline on my blaze and today, I shine brightly! " Here she is new world number 3 and with a new status on the women's circuit.

(et with AFP

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