American tennis star Coco Gauff crashed out of the Australian Open with a 7-6 (2), 6-4 loss to defending champ Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in Thursday night’s elimination round, marking Gauff’s most memorable loss of the year. Second-seeded Sabalenka will take on China’s Qinwen Zheng, who crushed Ukraine’s Dayna Yastremska, at Melbourne’s Bar Laver Field on Saturday.
Coco Gauff had a tough game against Aryna
Aryna Sabalenka guaranteed revenge, and she delivered it against Coco Gauf on Thursday. Sabalenka, the reigning Australian Open champion, avenged Goff’s last US Open misfortune since Serena Williams reached back-to-back Australian Open finals. The Belarusian hit 33 aces in her 7-6(2), 6-4 victory that extended her winning streak to 13 matches at Melbourne Park. “It was a wonderful match,” Sabalenka said. “He’s a fantastic player; he’s consistently tough against him. I think the key was that I had the option to keep going on track no matter what the score was. I’ve made an honest effort recently and kept fighting. That’s it. There’s something else to do and I will give it a valiant effort.”
Sabalenka will face Zheng Qinwen on Saturday in the championship. For Coco Gauff, it was a disappointing look. He was undefeated when reaching the semifinals in 2024 and had a 12-match major winning streak. After going to three sets against Marta Kostyuk, she lost. As in that match, Goff trailed in the opening set, but rallied from 5-2 down to take a 6-5 lead. This time, however, he was unable to win the first set. Since then, things have not gone his way.
This evening is the ultimate opponent for me. Overall, it was a successful tournament, Coco Gauff said. I had my chances in two sets, but he played better this evening. I think it only boils down to two or three places, and that’s tennis.. I still believe that in any tournament it hurts just as much at this point, but especially a Grand Slam, whether I lose 6-1, like I did. today or in a third-set tiebreak.”
Why Coco Gauff didn’t do well at the Australian Open
Coco Gauff run at Australian disqualification was adjusted in Thursday’s settlement as the 19-year-old US Open supervisor ran a great deal for everyone at Melbourne Park over the past two years. Aryna Sabalenka, the big-hitting defending champion from Belarus who fouled out against Coco Gauff and baffled 24,000 fans at the US Open in late September, had many shaky minutes on the shaft lever field. Whatever she was, Sabalenka played her best tennis in the crucial minutes, beating Goff 7-6(2), 6-4 in the sudden-death round of the opening set and again in the closing minutes of the second set to touch home for her third big.
The run surprisingly came off the back of one of Coco Gauff‘s most formidable performances in a long time, a mistake-filled quarterfinal win over Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk with what she referred to as her “C-game.” For this, she changed from her bright skirt and top and Technicolor shoes to a more subdued nautical vibe. A different look and, he believes, a different kind of action. It was and it was not; It was good but not satisfactory, especially his service.
Coco Gauff was double-crossed many times, revisiting his undercurrent seemingly forever on this tour. Her subsequent serves were brittle and short for a large part of the time, allowing Sabalenka to enter the court and pound her opponent. “I was hitting his forehand right, so he knew where it was going every single time,” Goff said. Still, on a night when two players, especially Coco Gauff, were far from their best, the American star got his chance. In the crucial set, he saved a set point, charged back from a 5–2 deficit for the set and won it.
Former world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka Comments after reaching final
A narrow win at the Australian Open on Saturday will be extra important for Aryna Sabalenka. The 25-year-old from Belarus shared that before her father passed away in 2019, they shared a fantasy about hitting two huge homeruns to top the singles championship before turning 25. In the Netflix documentary “Break Point,” Sabalenka said, “I lost my father quite a while ago. A dream came to us: Before 25, I would hit two or three huge home runs.
” At the time of recording, he had not won a single. Sabalenka turns 26 in May, and with her goal of winning two rums before 25, tennis fans are imagining that in this particular case, it’s wise to move the goal line a bit.
His most memorable huge homerun singles title came at the 2023 Australian Open. On Saturday, she will face Chasabalenka’s father, Sergei, who died suddenly in November 2019 at the age of 43. “I’m just trying to fight on the basis that my father maintained that I should be No. 1,” Sabalenka said in January 2020. “Because I’m doing it for her, it’s helping me stay strong right now.” Arriving at world no. 1 is a feat Sabalenka achieved last year at the US Open. He is now number 2 behind Iga Suatek