By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Sunday, June 2, 2024
US Open champion Coco Gauff crushed Elisabette Cocciaretto 6-1, 6-2 soaring into her fourth consecutive Roland Garros quarterfinal.
Photo credit: Mateo Villalba/Getty
It was rush hour at Roland Garros.
Coco Gauff was directing traffic in one direction.
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Dictating play from the center of the court, Gauff demolished Elisabette Cocciaretto 6-1, 6-2 soaring into her fourth consecutive Roland Garros quarterfinal.
The 20-year-old Delray Beach-born baseliner plowed into her fourth Grand Slam quarterfinal in her last five major appearances.
"I'm really happy with how I played today," Gauff told the media in Paris after beating Cocciaretto for the third time in as many meetings. "I played her in Dubai, and it was a little bit tougher. So happy that I took what I learned from that match into today."
It’s a historic victory for Gauff, who became the first American in the Open Era to reach four straight Roland Garros quarterfinals before celebrating her 21st birthday.
Gauff will face either two-time Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur or 72nd-ranked Dane Clara Tauson for a spot in the final four.
The US Open champion overwhelmed the Italian baseliner. Gauff nearly tripled Cocciaretto’s winner total—19 to 7—converted five of seven break points and dropped just five points on first serve in a commanding victory that came after world No. 1 Iga Swiatek dished out double-bagel dominance in 40 minutes over Anastasia Potapova.
Credit Cocciaretto for scoring her second and third career Top 20 wins in Paris this week with her first-round upset of No.14 Beatriz Haddad Maia and her third-round triumph over No.17 Liudmila Samsonova.
The Italian struggled to stay in step with Gauff at the outset.
The 2022 French Open finalist Gauff tore through 16 of the first 18 points leaving her opponent looking a little shell-shocked and flat-footed in rolling to a 4-0 lead.
On her second set point, Gauff drove a backhand winner into the corner to seal the opening set in 20 minutes.
Cocciaretto tried to reset but double-faulted away the break to open the second set.
By then, Gauff had won seven of the first eight games. Gauff gave the break right back on her second double fault.
The 51st-ranked Italian was trying to straddle the baseline and take the ball earlier. That decision gave Cocciaretto little time to cope with the deep drives streaming from Gauff’s Head racquet. Gauff banged out her fourth break for a 6-1, 2-1 lead after 40 minutes.
When the sun finally broke free from its imprisonment behind a wall of clouds, Court Philippe Chatrier fans broke out in a spontaneous cheer as Gauff held firm for 6-1, 3-1.
Throughout this match, Gauff did a fine job running down drop shots and net-cord balls running everything down and bunting her replies down the line. Speeding up to a net-cord shot, Gauff tracked it down then blocked a volley winner for double break point.
The third seed’s speed created her fifth break. Gauff ran down an angled volley and spun a forehand pass down the line for a 6-1, 5-2 lead after 56 minutes.
“No rush, no rush,” Gauff’s coach Brad Gilbert urged as she stepped up to serve it out.
Gauff closed in one hour to improve to 29-8 on the season, including an 11-3 mark on clay.