Gauff upsets defending champion
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA >> Coco Gauff is only 15, still growing in every way, and still fresh to the world of professional tennis, but she can win this Australian Open.
That is no stretch. Not anymore.
Not after the precociously gifted young American once again flashed her prodigious moxie and talent on the biggest of stages. This time it was here at the Australian Open on a warm Friday night (Australia time), Gauff plowing easily past No. 3-seeded Naomi Osaka on the very court where Osaka won the title last year.
The final score: 6-3, 6-4 — a runaway train for the Floridian Gauff, pretty much from the start to the very end.
In the moments just after Gauff won, there was not any of the ecstatic celebration that she displayed when she announced herself to the world with two stirring Grand Slam runs last summer — first at Wimbledon and then at the
U.S. Open — sparking the worldwide phenomenon known cheekily as Cocomania.
This time, as the last point ended, she turned and looked at her family and coaches in their courtside seats, raised her arms, pumped them four times in brief celebration, then walked happily to the net to give Osaka a hug.
Was she more subdued because this is all seeming very normal now? Not a chance.
“I think I was more in disbelief,” she told the New York Times, referring not just to the pressure of playing the reigning champion but doing it for the first time on the show court, in front of 15,000 fans at Rod Laver Arena. “I didn’t really know what to do. I was just trying to enjoy the moment and savor the moment. I still wouldn’t say I’m used to this.”
Gauff’s Round 4 opponent will be the No. 14 seed, Sofia Keni Kenin.
For all of the skill Gauff has and all of the concentration she brought to the court, it must be noted that a surprising stream of unforced errors from Osaka marred the match. She hit 30 in all, an astounding number for a player of her magnitude. Osaka looked shellshocked and uncomfortable; she would admit later that she simply did not know what to do to play better.
“I was not really swinging freely, and she was,” Osaka said.
• Five players seeded in the top 10 had been knocked out of the Australian Open across the men’s and women’s draws, and Roger Federer appeared ready to join their exodus.
On the same court where Serena Williams and Osaka had suffered stunning defeats just hours earlier, Federer trailed 8-4 in a firstto-10 tiebreaker at the end of the fifth set against John Millman of Australia. Federer was two points from defeat in a bruising match that had stretched past four hours, then suddenly rallied, reeling off six straight points to snatch a 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (10-8) victory to reach the fourth round.