Coco Gauff came in as the favorite for the match with
Jelena Ostapenko at the
Australian Open.
The North American
came with a lot of confidence, since she had easily won the first three rounds
against careful rivals like Siniakova, Raducanu and Pera, all of them in two
sets. In the case of the 17th seed, she had previously beaten Yatremska, Bondár
and Kozlova, but the world No.7 was a bigger challenge.
The first
set was very close, with the American having 56% first serves, winning 83%.
Most of her service games were won easily, but the Latvian was accurate in the
important moments. When it seemed that the tie-break was inevitable, the former
French Open champion avoided the break at 6-5 and took a tough first set, in
which Coco could only take 1/7 break points, against Ostapenko's effectiveness,
who took advantage of the two opportunities she had.
In the
second set the 25-year-old showed a stronger level, against a Coco Gauff who
dropped her first serve percentage considerably. For her part, the winner of
the match had an incredible 77% first serve, winning 72%. Her next challenge
will be against the 2022 Wimbledon champion,
Elena Rybakina, who beat World
No. 1
Iga Swiatek.