Tag: Coco Gauff

Photo Courtesy of Steven Pisano

Top Seeded Barty Loses and Gauff’s Phenomenal Run Comes to an End

Wimbledon’s fourth round with the final 16 players left in the Ladies’ Singles took place today. Five of the top ten seeds were left in the field entering today, but only two would remain when the day was over.

The biggest upset of the day was top seeded Ashleigh Barty getting beat by unseeded Alison Riske. Barty was able to win the first set 6-3 but Riske rallied back to win the last two sets 6-2, 6-3. This will be the first time Riske has ever made it further than the fourth round of any Grand Slam tournament. Riske will play 11th seeded Serena Williams in the quarterfinals.

Barty was looking good heading into Wimbledon having won the last Grand Slam tournament this year, the French Open, and making it to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open earlier this year. Her number one ranking is not at stake since the number three ranked player in the world, Karolina Pliskova, the last player who could surpass her, lost today as well. Pliskova was defeated by Johanna Konta 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 today. If Pliskova had made it to the semifinals she would have been the new number one.

Earlier this year former number one Naomi Osaka talked about the pressure of being the number one ranked player and how freeing it was to not have the number by her name anymore. When Barty was asked if the number one ranking had changed her she had a very different and more relaxed response compared to Osaka.

No, I haven’t lived my life any differently. But there’s a little bit more attention… For me nothing has really changed. I try and go about it the same way, the right way. The way that I believe works for me and my team… If we can hold onto the number ranking it’d be great. But if we don’t it’s not really going to change anything that we do between now and our next event.”

Perhaps the match most people were tuning into involved the youngest player and lowest ranked player in the tournament, Coco Gauff. She had the hard task of facing the seventh ranked player, Simona Halep. On paper it seemed like Gauff would struggle, but if tennis was played merely on paper Gauff would not even be playing in Wimbledon.

Not only was Gauff the underdog heading into the match, but she was also be sick throughout the match with what appeared to be stomach pains. Whether it was her inexperience, her stomach pains or a combination of both Halep looked like the superior player through the majority of the match. Gauff lost in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 and only lasted one hour and 15 minutes. After the match, just like she was gracious in victory she was equally gracious in defeat and did not blame the sickness giving all the credit to Halep on a great match. Halep will play unseeded Shuai Zhang in her next match.

The final upset on the day was the 21st seeded Elise Mertens being beat by unseeded Barbora Strycova by a score of 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. With Strycova’s victory the quarterfinals will have a seeded and unseeded player in every match.

The quarterfinals begin tomorrow at 8 am ET with S. Williams playing Riske and Halep playing Zhang. Then followed up at 9:15 am ET (time subject to change) by Konta playing Strycova and Elina Svitolina playing Karolina Muchova. The matches will be broadcasted on ESPN and ESPN2.

Photo Courtesy of EO1

Gauff Advances to the round of 16 at Wimbledon

Coco Gauff, the star of this year’s tournament, moves on to the round of 16. Gauff barely qualified for Wimbledon and was added as a wild card, so just getting to play on the historic courts was seen as a success for Gauff. Now, to have won three matches and be one of the last 16 players in the world playing at a major tournament is unthinkable for what Gauff could do.

Today also marked the first time she was able to play on Center Court, one of the most prestigious courts in the world, and being able to calm her nerves on such a big stage will serve her well. Gauff defeated Polona Hercog, ranked 60th in the world, who got past Madison Keys in the second round. Polona has never gotten past the third round in a major tournament and was trying to get into uncharted waters along with Gauff. Polona won the first set 6-3 and then Gauff forced a tiebreaker in the second set after being down 5-2. Gauff then went down 5-3 only come back after tiebreak to win 9-7 in one of the longest rallies of the tournament.

Gauff would then win set three and understandably express a great deal of emotion in an otherwise reserved sport.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

At times Gauff has shown her inexperience but most of the time she looks calm and confident even when she is facing players presumably better than her. When asked about her confidence at Wimbledon she responded with, “I feel like I have always been confident in myself. I think I have learned that I am capable of a lot of things. I feel like my confidence has been the same the whole tournament.”

Gauff will need all the confidence she has in her next match against Simona Halep who is seeded 7th. Halep is the first seeded opponent Gauff has faced.

Two seeded players did get upset today, both in straight sets. The matches were Caroline Wozniacki who was beaten 6-4, 6-2 by Shuai Zhang and Anett Kontaveit losing to Karolina Muchova 7-6, 6-3.

The rest of the third round is played tomorrow with coverage on the ESPN family of networks starting at 6 am ET. The two all seeded matchups involve Serena Williams taking on Julia Görges and Sloane Stephens against Johanna Konta.

Photo Courtesy of Mirsasha

Gauff’s Magic Run Continues While Keys Struggles at Wimbledon

The youngest player in the tournament, Coco Gauff, at just 15-years old upset her hero, Venus Williams, two days ago. Her unprescedented win was followed up with a victory over Magdalena Rybarikova today. Rybarikova is not highly ranked at just 139 but she was a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 2017. Gauff once again won in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.

Her victories at Wimbledon are shocking to most people. Gauff was a wildcard into the tournament and she is ranked outside the top 300 at 312. On paper Gauff should not be going to the third round, but if you ask Gauff if she’s surprised she responds confidently with, “I think I can beat anyone.”

Another American upset was with Danielle Collins defeating Anastasija Sevastova, the 12 seed. Collins had to go all three sets after dropping the first set. The match would end with a score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

The two seeded Americans on the day would not be so fortunate as their compatriots. 27th seeded, Sofia Kenin, was taken down by Dayana Yastremska. The match went a full three sets, but Yastremska took the final set with a commanding 6-3 win.

The most surprising USA upset was when Madison Keys, seeded 17th, lost to Polona Hercog in straight sets. Wimbledon has always been a struggle for Keys, who has never made it past the quarterfinals. She has made it to at least the semifinals in all of the other Grand Slams.

Top seeded players Karolina Pliskova, Simona Halep and Elina Svitolina all moved on to the third round and will play on Friday July 5.

The main matches tomorrow will be with the top seed Ashleigh Barty facing Alison Van Uytyan and defending Wimbledon Champion Angelique Kerber against Lauren Davis. Coverage begins at 6 am ET tomorrow on the ESPN networks.

Photo Courtesy of Tim Schofield

Wild Start to Wimbledon With Upsets and Historic Matches

Wimbledon started today with 32 matches in the women’s singles first round. Only four of the matches went to three sets and one of the matches ended early due to a player retiring from the event.

There are usually a few surprises in a tournament with players upsetting higher ranked opponents but four of the top seeds going out on day one seems unpredictable and reflects how close the competition is in women’s tennis.

The biggest surprise of the day has to be second ranked Naomi Osaka being defeated by Yulia Putintseva 7-6 (4), 6-2. This is the second time in 12 days that Putintseva has beaten Osaka and the third time overall; Osaka has never beaten Putintseva. Osaka recently lost her number one overall ranking and had felt relieved of the pressure the top ranking entails. After the loss today, Osaka was obviously upset and even ended her post-match press conference early by saying, “I feel like I’m about to cry.“

The next highest ranked player and the first top player to exit the tournament was Aryna Sabalenka, ranked tenth. Magdalena Rybarikova won 6-2, 6-4 in just 70 minutes of play. Rybarikova has typically not gotten past the second round of tournaments, but her highest finish at a Grand Slam tournament was in 2017 when she reached the Wimbledon semifinals.

The two other upsets over seeded opponents were Shuai Zhang over 23rd ranked Caroline Garcia and Ajla Tomljanovic over 29th ranked Daria Kasatkina.

But quite possibly one of the biggest story-lines of the day was between two unseeded players in Venus Williams and Cori ‘Coco’ Gauff. V. Williams is ranked 44th in the world and one of the most decorated tennis players of all time. Gauff is the youngest player in the tournament at just 15 years-old. Gauff had previously said that she idolized both Serena and Venus Williams growing up so playing V. Williams in her second major tournament match created a whirlwind of emotions. But the young player was able to keep her emotions in check and defeat V. Williams in straight sets. Gauff won 6-4, 6-4 and showed she is more experienced than her age shows. She is the youngest player to win a match at a major since 1991. Gauff looked in control the entire match and was able to take advantages of miscues from V. Williams.

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When the two met at the net after the match V. Williams congratulated Gauff on the win. After the match, Gauff revealed that she was able to tell V. Williams how much she means to her and many other young athletes who look up to V. Williams. Not everyone gets to meet their hero, let alone play against them and win. Today is a day that will be hard for Gauff to forget, but she will have to regroup quickly and focus on her next match if she wants to continue her time at Wimbledon.

Wimbledon’s first round resumes tomorrow at 6 am ET on ESPN 3.