Watch: Fired up Coco Gauff roars in celebration as she wins 1st ever set against Iga Swiatek after losing 14 in a row
Coco Gauff has finally managed to break the streak of losing sets against Iga Siwatek. She won her first-ever set against the Pole at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati on August 19.
Swiatek was pegged as the heavy favorite to win the semifinal match and progress to her first final in Cincinnati. However, Gauff had other plans.
The duo traded two breaks in the first set to send it into a tiebreaker. Gauff then managed to get four mini-breaks and win the shootout 7-2.
Before this match, Swiatek had won 14 straight sets against Gauff. The American looked fired up after breaking the streak, roaring in celebration as she took the lead over the World No. 1 for the first time ever.
Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff had played against each other seven times on the WTA Tour before Cincinnati. The first meeting came at the 2021 Italian Open, where Swiatek beat Gauff 7-6, 6-3.
After that, the Pole defeated Gauff at the 2022 Miami Open (6-3, 6-1), 2022 French Open final (6-1, 6-3), 2022 San Diego Open (6-0, 6-3), 2022 WTA Finals (6-3, 6-0), 2023 Dubai Tennis Championships (6-4, 6-2), and 2023 French Open (6-4, 6-2).
The winner of the Cincinnati Open semifinal between Swiatek and Gauff will face either World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka or Karolina Muchova.
"We can fight" - Coco Gauff slams tournaments for scheduling late matches
Coco Gauff has become the latest player to rally against late-night matches. In her press conference after beating Linda Noskova, Gauff slammed tournament organizers for setting up players for a "terrible week" by scheduling matches that start close to midnight.
Fellow players Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina have also expressed similar concerns.
"Unfortunately, I think Elena and Iga said the same, there is not much the players can do in that situation. We can fight. For me, when I had that night match against Marketa and that was because of the rain, I really fought for the not-before 1:30 time, or not before 2:00, that saved me the extra 30 minutes in the morning, which means a lot in sleeping terms," Gauff said.
The World No. 7 also sympathized with organizers who have to work with TV schedules when setting up matches. Gauff stated that making significant changes in this matter is a massive task as sponsors' interests also need to be given importance if tennis is to become a profitable sport.
"You know, it's tough, because, you know, the tournament is trying to work with TV, and TV is working. There is a lot of things people don't realize. It's not as easy as just saying, Let's move all the matches up, because we still have to sell our sport," she added.
Coco Gauff is seeded No. 7 in Cincinnati and was given a bye in the first round. She has looked nearly invincible since then, beating Mayar Sherif in the second round 6-2, 6-2, Linda Noskova in the third round 6-4. 6-0, and Jasmine Paolini in the quarterfinal 6-3, 6-2.