Coco Gauff has reached her first U.S. Open final by defeating Karolina Muchova 6-4, 7-5 in a match interrupted for 50 minutes by environmental activists. One of the protesters glued his bare feet to the concrete in the Arthur Ashe Stadium stands Thursday night. . Gauff is a 19-year-old from Florida who is the youngest American to make it to the title match in New York since Serena Williams. Gauff was up by a set and 1-0 in the second when protesters disrupted play. The victory was the 11th in a row for Gauff and the 17th in her past 18 matches.
Aryna Sabalenka reached her first U.S. Open final by edging Madison Keys 0-6, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (10-5). The second-seeded Sabalenka will face No. 6-seeded Coco Gauff on Saturday. The Australian Open champion had been just 1-5 in Grand Slam semifinals, including losses the last two years in that round in New York. But she won this one by taking the two tiebreakers by a combined 17-6. She had to regroup in the second one after mistakenly thinking she had won it after her seventh point, momentarily forgetting the tiebreakers in decisive sets go to 10. Sabalenka was already assured of rising to the top of the women’s rankings even if she lost.
