Coco Gauff defeated fellow American Sloane Stephens 7-5 6-2 in the second quarterfinal at the 2022 French Open.
The 18-year-old Gauff, girls’ singles champion in Paris four years ago, quickly established a 4-1 lead in Tuesday’s quarterfinal. The 2017 US Open champion Stephens managed to level the set at 5-all, but Gauff responded with two extremely confident games to win the first set in 44 minutes.
The 29-year-old Stephens opened the second set with a break, but Gauff broke back right away and was soon serving for victory at 5-1. Just as Stephens seemed to have accepted the defeat, Gauff served two doubles faults in a row and helped Stephens earn a break to stay alive. In the next game, however, Gauff came roaring back, earning three consecutive match points on Stephens’ serve. The young American converted her second, as Stephens sent a shot long.
The world No.23 Gauff will next play world No.59 Martina Trevisan, who battled past seed No.17 Leylah Fernandez earlier on Tuesday on Court Philippe-Chatrier to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal.
Gauff and Trevisan have faced each other once, in the second round of Roland Garros 2020. The Italian triumphed then, in three sets, but this time Gauff is an overwhelming favorite.
