French Open: Teenager Coco Gauff sets up semi-final with Martina Trevisan
- Published
Gauff celebrated graduating high school shortly before the French Open, where she has reached the semi-finals
French Open 2022 |
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Dates: 22 May-5 June Venue: Roland Garros, Paris |
Coverage: Live text and radio commentaries of selected matches across BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, the BBC Sport website and app |
American teenager Coco Gauff says her recent high-school graduation was tougher than reaching the semi-finals of the French Open for the first time.
The 18-year-old swept into the Roland Garros last four with a 7-5 6-2 win over fellow American Sloane Stephens.
Gauff combined her studies with competing on the WTA Tour and graduated before the tournament started.
She said: "Was graduating tougher? Yes because I know how hard it was to do school and play tennis on the road."
Gauff, who made her debut on the WTA Tour aged 14, added: "Other players in general get out of sight with life and we think tennis is the most important thing in the world. It is not.
"So getting my high-school diploma meant a lot to me."
Gauff won the French Open junior title in 2018 - the same year Stephens finished runner-up to Simona Halep in the women's singles final.
She broke Stephens, 29, at the end of a tight first set and then took command of the second to set up a semi-final against Martina Trevisan.
'My past is the past' - Trevisan
Martina Trevisan will now face Coco Gauff in the French Open semi-finals
Trevisan, 28, also reached the last four at Roland Garros for the first time after overcoming Leylah Fernandez 6-2 6-7 (3-7) 6-3.
The Italian, who is ranked 59 in the world and is named after Martina Navratilova, spent four years away from tennis to battle an eating disorder.
In a blog in 2020 she explained how she had to be "re-educated to eat" having "closed myself in my cocoon" when her father was diagnosed with a degenerative disease.
"I'm happy on the court," she said after Tuesday's win. "I'm doing what I love. So my past is the past, and it helped me to be in the present, to be what I am right now."
Trevisan started confidently against Fernandez - the 19-year-old 2021 US Open finalist - who struggled with a foot injury.
Fernandez, seeded 17, saved a match point in the second set, winning the tie-break comfortably, only for Trevisan to recover her poise in the deciding set.
The world number 59 has found momentum having won her first WTA title in Rabat the week before the French Open.