American tennis star Coco Gauff has reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon for the first time, beating Jessica Pegula in the quarter-finals.
Gauff’s victory marks her first semi-final appearance at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. She will face the winner of the other semi-final match in the next round.
The seventh seed battled to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over the fourth-seeded Pegula on Centre Court, sealing the win with a break of serve to march into the final four at the All England Club.
A career-best run on grass
The result marks a major breakthrough for the 22-year-old on a surface that had long been her weakest. Although Gauff has already won Grand Slam titles at the US Open and the French Open, Wimbledon and its grass courts had remained a stumbling block, with the American suffering first-round exits in two of her last three appearances at the Championships before this year.
Reaching the semi-finals also makes Gauff one of the few active players to have gone that deep at all four Grand Slam tournaments.
“It’s pretty insane, considering I hadn’t won a match on grass in two years before this tournament,” Gauff said on court after the win. She added that Pegula was an incredible opponent and person, and that playing against her is never easy.
A hard-fought all-American battle
The quarter-final was the first meeting between two American top-10 seeds at Wimbledon since Serena Williams beat her sister Venus in the 2009 final. Pegula, the daughter of Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula, took the opening set as Gauff struggled to find her rhythm early on.
But Gauff steadied herself, tightening her serve and levelling the match with a 117mph ace to close out the second set. She then took control of the decider, winning the majority of the longer rallies and eventually breaking Pegula twice to seal the contest. It was the fourth consecutive three-set match Gauff has won at this year’s tournament, underlining the fighting spirit that has defined her run in London.
What’s next for Gauff
Gauff is now the highest remaining seed in the women’s draw. She will face the winner of the quarter-final between four-time major champion Naomi Osaka and Karolina Muchova in Thursday’s semi-final, with a place in the Wimbledon final at stake.
Should she go all the way, it would complete a remarkable turnaround for a player who had never previously won so much as a set in the fourth round at Wimbledon, and who now stands just two wins away from lifting the trophy.
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