Coco Gauff to face Aryna Sabalenka in US Open Final with victory over Karolina Muchova

After defeating Karolina Muchova in straight sets at the US Open, American teen phenom Coco Gauff will compete in a Grand Slam final for the second time in her career.

Gauff continued her impressive summer run on Thursday night as she defeated Muchova 6-4, 7-5 to go to the women’s singles final at Flushing Meadows for the first time.

The sixth-seeded Gauff has won 17 of 18 matches, which includes victories in Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati. Her winning streak of 11 straight wins is the longest of her career.

Gauff is by almost six years the youngest of these four semifinalists. Since Serena Williams in 1999, the 19-year-old is also the youngest American woman to compete in the US Open final.

She hopes to join Serena, her sister Venus, and Sloane Stephens as the fourth American woman to win the Open in this century.

Gauff is also the first American woman to play in multiple Grand Slam finals since Monica Seles from 1990 to 1993, and the youngest woman to do it since Maria Sharapova (2004 Wimbledon and 2006 US Open).

Gauff will compete against No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in the championship match on Saturday. In the evening’s opening round, Keys narrowly defeated No. 17 Madison Gauff in a third-set tiebreak.

The WTA No. 1 contender Sabalenka beat Keys in a back-and-forth semifinal 0-6, 7-6(1), 7-6(5) to reach her maiden US Open final.

The 25-year-old Belarusian had advanced to the semifinals without dropping a set and had only lost 21 games in 10 sets, but Keys’ brilliant performance in the opening set placed him at a disadvantage right away.

With her second Slam final of the year, Sabalenka, who officially ascended to the top of the rankings following the US Open, continues her remarkable majors season. Since Serena in 2016, she is also the only athlete to advance to the semifinals of all four Grand Slam competitions in a calendar year.

Sabalenka’s 50th match victory of the year came in the after-midnight victory. Sabalenka has never reached that total in a season before in her career in terms of tour-level victories.

-IANS