A year ago at this time, Muchova was ranked 235th and exited the US Open in the first round. But she showed off every bit of the variety she possesses to accumulate a 32-12 advantage in winners against Cirstea, who was appearing in her first Slam quarterfinal since 2009.
For Gauff, a first-round exit at Wimbledon in July sure feels like ages ago.
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She reached the final at Roland Garros last year, but lost that title match to Iga Swiatek; they could have met again in the US Open quarterfinals. But Swiatek didn’t make it, instead losing to Ostapenko in the fourth round. That defeat not only ended Swiatek’s title defense but also meant she will relinquish her spot at No. 1 in the WTA rankings to Aryna Sabalenka next week.
“I was shocked,” Gauff said.
When she is on the mark, as she was Sunday night against Swiatek, 2017 French Open champion Ostapenko, a 26-year-old from Latvia, can be as challenging an opponent as there is, because she goes for broke on nearly every stroke. If the balls land in, she is in business. When they don’t, she is in trouble.
She finished with 36 unforced errors Tuesday; Gauff had 14.
“Honestly,” said Ostapenko, who beat Gauff at the Australian Open in January, “I was expecting a little bit more from her today.”
Ostapenko complained that she had a short turnaround because that victory over Swiatek ended so late and then the Gauff match was so early — it began shortly after noon, with the temperature at 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) and the humidity above 50 percent, prompting a rule change about the use of the roofs on the two largest arenas.
“I was pretty sure (I was) going to play at night session, because that’s what they told me,” Ostapenko said. “When the schedule came out, I saw I’m playing first match and was, like, ‘Wow, that’s a little bit strange scheduling.’”
Tournament referee Jake Garner said Ostapenko’s team did not request - and was not informed she would receive a late start.
“She certainly wasn’t told anything from me or anybody on the referee’s staff. There’s always conversations between coaches, players to the referee’s, team tournament management, about the schedule, but I don’t believe that she was promised anything about specifically when she would play,” Garner said. “And that would be very unusual for anybody to be promised anything that far in advance.”
In men’s action, Ben Shelton, a 20-year-old American, reached his first Grand Slam semifinal, and now meets 23-time major champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia.
The unseeded Shelton beat No. 10 Frances Tiafoe 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2 at night in the first Grand Slam quarterfinal between two African-American men in the Open era. Djokovic got past No. 9 Taylor Fritz of the US 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.
Gauff, naturally, had the pro-American crowd on her side. They applauded and yelled for her even before she stepped out on court, reacting when she was shown on the arena’s video screens during a prematch TV interview.
The roars crescendoed when Gauff was introduced before play began.
And once it did, she got off to about as good a start as possible, grabbing 12 of the initial 15 points for a 3-0 lead after just 10 minutes.
Gauff didn’t need to try to force things. To her credit, she didn’t. What she did do was use her instincts, smarts and speed to get to Ostapenko’s best groundstrokes and send them back over to the other side. That exemplary defense would extend points, more often than not, until Ostapenko erred.
“Today was the best match I’ve played, for sure,” Gauff said, “even though it wasn’t how I like to play.”
- AP
