In a compelling match, third-seeded American Coco Gauff overcame Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur to go to the French Open semifinals.
At Roland Garros on Tuesday, Gauff, 20, won 4-6 6-2 6-3, displaying her maturity and mentality.
On Thursday, the US Open winner will square off against Iga Swiatek, a Polish top seed who defeated her in the 2022 championship match.
Swiatek defeated Czech fifth seed Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2, extending her chances of winning a third consecutive championship.
Eighth seed Jabeur gave Gauff a great opening set, but Gauff never gave up and exploited her opponent’s level decline.
In the final set, Gauff faced a break point at 5-3 and failed to convert a match chance on Jabeur’s service. However, she crossed the line when her opponent threw an overhead long.
The size of the exam Gauff had passed was evident from the intense cheer she let out in the middle of the court.
Gauff, who witnessed Jabeur preserve a second match point before missing the third, described Jabeur as “a tough opponent.”
She was playing really well and hitting a lot of wins, which is something I’m not used to, so I was trying to be more aggressive.
“I got a little bit tight but I did what I needed to do.”
Gauff has continued to have a great season on the WTA Tour after capturing the Grand Slam championship that her extraordinary skill had long predicted.
She has now advanced to the final four of a major tournament for the third time in a row, having made it to the Australian Open semifinals in January.
She accomplished this on the Paris clay by coming back from losing a set for the first time in the competition.
In the first set, Jabeur excelled, using her forehand to deflect Gauff’s power from the baseline and serving with such force that her opponent had little chance of responding.
Jabeur always has fervent support from her supporters in this heavily Tunisian city, and they celebrated her winning the set with a well-known terrace chant reminiscent of football.
Gauff claimed that the ambiance motivated her as well.
“Thank you guys for creating a fantastic atmosphere; I cheer for Ons too when I’m not playing. I enjoy performing in environments such as this,” she said to the audience on Court Philippe Chatrier.
“I know you wanted her to win, but even when I was in the bathroom [after the first set] I was thinking ‘this is really fun, win or lose’.”
Due to a persistent knee injury, three-time major finalist Jabeur had a difficult season. She battled to find her form until returning to her best at Roland Garros.
The 29-year-old, though, was unable to maintain the pressure she applied to Gauff.
As Gauff turned the match around, she struggled to land as many first serves and started making hasty decisions while returning.
Quarterfinals are not too horrible. “I accept,” Jabeur uttered.
“I’m trying to be less hard with myself and be proud with the way I was fighting.”
Who would be able to stop Swiatek at Roland Garros was the question going into the clay-court major.
The 23-year-old world number one put on another imposing performance, and nobody is any closer to answering it.
Swiatek has advanced since defeating Naomi Osaka in the second round.
In the final 16, Swiatek defeated Anastasia Potapova 6-0 6-0 in under forty minutes, and she continued her success with a 28-minute bagel against Vondrousova.
Although Vondrousova is the current Wimbledon champion and the runner-up at Roland Garros in 2019, Swiatek was a different animal.
Swiatek held for 2-1 in the second set after momentarily under pressure on service at 1-1. She then broke for 3-1 to set up a rematch with Gauff, whom she also defeated in the quarterfinals of the previous year.
Today was a rather simple task. I’m glad I managed to stay focused. I thought the game was fairly intense at points,” Swiatek remarked.
“The intensity waned a little bit at points. Whatever came back from Marketa, all I wanted to do was play my game. Today, I felt as though I was in the zone.”
