US Open 2023: Mats Wilander raises 'warning flag' to Coco Gauff ahead of semi-final with Karolina Muchova
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Published 06/09/2023 at 11:44 GMT
Coco Gauff is two wins away from achieving her dream of winning a maiden Grand Slam on home soil at the US Open. The 19-year-old impressively defeated Jelena Ostapenko on Tuesday to set up a semi-final against Karolina Muchova, but Mats Wilander has raised a "warning flag" ahead of the match. Gauff has been told to have her "thinking cap on" against the tricky Czech.
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Coco Gauff will need to “put on her thinking cap” to beat Karolina Muchova in a US Open semi-final that requires a “warning flag”, says Eurosport expert Mats Wilander.
The 19-year-old American reached the last four of her home Grand Slam for the first time on Tuesday by beating Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets.
It was an impressive performance against the Latvian, who showed her class in the previous round by ousting top seed Iga Swiatek.
While Gauff beat Muchova in straight sets in the Cincinnati final just two weeks ago to claim her first WTA 1000 title, she has been warned to keep her wits about her against the Roland-Garros runner-up.
“I have to throw a warning flag,” Wilander told Eurosport.
“Even though Coco beat her in Cincinnati, Muchova has the game that can assess the situation, play risky tennis, realise it doesn’t work, then do something different.
“Coco really needs to put on her thinking cap when she plays Muchova.
"This is an opportunity as a 19-year-old. She is young but this is an opportunity she needs to take, I think.”
Gauff and Muchova are both aiming for a career-first Grand Slam title in New York, with both coming closest when they were beaten by Swiatek in the French Open final – the American last year and the Czech this year.
Fellow Eurosport expert Alex Corretja was impressed by Gauff’s performance against Ostapenko, where the sixth seed dropped just two games in a 6-0 6-2 win.
“One-way traffic for Coco Gauff,” said Corretja.
“It was very smart the way she played it, the way she entered the court knowing she needed to defend.
“She was running, getting height, hassling balls and Ostapenko didn’t feel the ball at all. You could see the difference between playing night and day sessions, the balls were flying so much.
“All credit to Coco Gauff, it’s an amazing achievement.”
The other semi-final will be set on Wednesday when Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova faces Madison Keys and Qinwen Zheng takes on second seed Aryna Sabalenka.
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