Ever since a 15-year-old Coco Gauff reached the fourth round on her Wimbledon debut seven years ago, beating Venus Williams along the way, few expected it would take until now to have reached her first quarter-final. Well, now make it a semi-final and a real shot at a third Grand Slam title.
Many a year around these grounds has been spent instead wondering what had happened to this child prodigy, bursting with talent and promise, now unable to rekindle that same touch on the famous lawns of the All England Club.
Gauff even reminded the crowd herself, after coming from a set down to beat friend and former doubles partner Jessica Pegula in this all-American clash on Centre Court, that she hadn’t won a match on grass in two years before this fortnight got under way.
‘Honestly, it’s pretty insane,’ said Gauff. ‘Maybe a lot of people had me going out in the first or second round this tournament so I am happy to get into the semi-finals. This is the first time I walked on Centre Court and I didn’t feel nervous,’ she said.
Coco Gauff roared back from a set down to reach her first ever semi-final at Wimbledon
For the first third of this contest, she certainly looked it. So much so that when Pegula sent the final point of the match crashing into the net, Gauff turned to her box, shrugged, and mouthed: ‘Oh my God! How?’
After an error-strewn first set in which Gauff could barely get a first serve into the court, there were plenty more dotted around Centre Court wondering the same.
Gauff looked to be rattling through her first service game of the match, racing to 40-0 only for a double fault and some unforced errors for it suddenly to turn to deuce, that turned to advantage Pegula, that turned to another double fault and a break.
It rather set the early tone for a contest unbefitting the two highest seeds left in the draw.
Gauff and Pegula mustered just nine winners between them over the entire first set yet 23 unforced errors. Gauff accounted for 17 of them.
When Gauff broke to love to get the set back on serve, she lost her own straight away to love, too, the break coming courtesy of yet another double fault.
After such a brilliant performance to beat Belinda Bencic in the last round, where Gauff beat the 11pm curfew by less than two minutes, and one she described as the one of the best grass matches of her career, she was back to that timid prodder that’s underperformed here year after year.
She needed to save two break points yet again in her opening service game of the second set and yet another in the next one, brought up by, you guessed it, a double fault. By this point, she was making little more than half of her first serves and winning only 38 per cent of points on her second.
When she eventually held, she clenched her fist and roared. The Centre Court crowd were fully behind Gauff now with cries of ‘Come on, Coco’ piercing the quiet in between points.
For you don’t win two Grand Slams without the ability to dig deep when it matters. It says a lot that she’s now played 18 three-setters this year and won 11 of them. Already in this tournament, she’s needed three sets in all but the first round. Against Bencic, she had to come from a set down as well.
Errors dominated the first set for Gauff but once she settled down she was then unstoppable
Fellow American Jessica Pegula struggled to find answers to the problems posed by Gauff
Centre Court gave Gauff a standing ovation at the end as she toasted her latest grass-court win
‘This is why Gauff has won two majors,’ said former Wimbledon doubles champion Pam Shriver on the BBC. ‘She doesn’t mind winning ugly.’ It was certainly that.
Whenever Pegula opened the door – and she had it ajar on many occasions – Gauff shut it in her face. Pegula had seven break points but clinched just three of them. Gauff converted all five of hers.
Gauff saved one in her opening service game of the decider. Last year’s French Open champion had the bit between her teeth, cutting a far more assured and aggressive figure than the tentative one of the first set.
It was no surprise that she forced another couple of break points early in the third and when Pegula couldn’t quite put her backhand tight enough into the corner from Gauff’s return, she pounced with a lovely cross-court forehand that forced her former doubles partner to send her volley just wide.
All Gauff had to do from there was close it out. With her new-found sure-footedness, she made sure of it. Even when Pegula broke back to put the decider back on serve, Gauff responded by breaking to love.
By this stage, Pegula looked stunned. After sending a passing shot wide after a scintillating rally, she stood by her chair and barely moved. A set up and multiple break points in the second, to this.
The fight had gone. From 30-0 up in the final game, on her serve, she had nothing left to give once Gauff attacked once more.
There is a reason why one of these players is ranked fourth in the world but is yet to win a Grand Slam and the other has two to her name that could soon become three.
