Coco Gauff booked her place in the Australian Open semifinals after surviving a scare from Marta Kostyuk in the quarterfinals.
The American entered the match on the back of four straight-set wins but found herself 5-1 down. However, she bounced back and won the set via a tiebreak. Kostyuk showed a lot of resilience and similarly took the second set to force the match into a decider.
Gauff dominated the third set and went on to register a 7-6(6), 6-7(3), 6-2 win to reach her third Grand Slam singles semifinal and first at the Australian Open. She also extended her winning streak in Major fixtures to 12 matches.
Despite the match stretching to three sets, several fans were far from pleased with the level of tennis displayed by Coco Gauff and Marta Kostyuk, with one claiming that Rod Laver was being made to watch it at his advanced age.
“Rod Laver is literally on the verge of death and he’s being made to watch this it’s f****d up,” the fan’s tweet read.
One fan called the quality of tennis ‘atrocious’, adding that both players were testing who could make more errors.
“The quality of play was atrocious; 2 players trying to determine who could make more errors than the other,” the fan’s tweeteread.
Another fan called the match “disgusting”, saying:
“Disgusting match. Idk how Coco won a GS,” the fan’s tweet read.
Here are some more fan reactions to Coco Gauff’s win over Marta Kostyuk at the Australian Open.
Coco Gauff will play either Aryna Sabalenka or Barbore Krejcikova in the Australian Open semifinals
After defeating Marta Kostyuk, Coco Gauff will next take on either second seed Aryna Sabalenka or ninth seed Barbora Krejcikova in the semifinals of the Australian Open.
Gauff and Sabalenka have faced one another six times previously, with the American leading 4-2 in the head-to-head. Their most recent encounter came in the US Open final where Gauff came back from a set down to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 and clinch her maiden Grand Slam title.
The teenager faced Barbora Krejcikova in the second round of the 2021 French Open, which has been their only meeting. The then-unseeded Czech won the match 7-6(6), 6-3 and went on to win the tournament by beating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
If Gauff wins, she will reach her third Grand Slam singles final and second on the trot.