{"id":305474,"date":"2023-06-08T01:57:24","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T01:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=305474"},"modified":"2023-06-08T02:59:02","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T02:59:02","slug":"i-didnt-try-to-hit-her-gauff-denies-swiatek-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=305474","title":{"rendered":"'I didn't try to hit her': Gauff denies Swiatek clash"},"content":{"rendered":"

This felt like a game Coco Gauff<\/a> simply needed to claim if she intended to finally win a set, let alone a match, against No.1 Iga Swiatek.<\/a><\/p>\n

With shouts of \u201cGo, Coco!\u201d and \u201cAllez, Coco!\u201d emanating from the Court Philippe Chatrier stands, Gauff frittered away two break points as Swiatek served at one-all.<\/p>\n

Then, at deuce, came the most memorable moment \u2014 and, while Gauff won the point, it soon would be Swiatek who seized complete control of this quarter-final that was a rematch of last year\u2019s final.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> McIlroy feels like 'sacrificial lamb' after LIV merger bombshell<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Aussie star conquers demons with epic century<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Eels star fighting allegations stood down by NRL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

During a 14-stroke exchange, both women made their way to the net, and Gauff directed a swinging backhand volley right at Swiatek.<\/p>\n

The ball struck Swiatek\u2019s right leg, and she tumbled back onto the red clay, leaving rust remnants on her white dress and arm. That set up a third break chance for Gauff, but the 19-year-old American again failed to convert, and while it soon was two-all, Swiatek pulled away from there to a 6-4, 6-2 victory.<\/p>\n

Watch Roland-Garros 2023 live and free on<\/strong> 9now<\/strong><\/a>.\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t try to hit her. I was just trying to hit the ball hard in the middle of the court, and it happened to hit her, obviously.," Gauff later said.<\/p>\n

"I apologised after, but I think she knows that\u2019s part of the game. If you hit a bad ball and you decide to run to the net, there\u2019s always a risk that you get hit \u2014 and there\u2019s always the risk that the person might miss, trying to avoid you.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was in her position, I wouldn\u2019t be mad at me, either, because she ran forward. I think when I said sorry, she shook her head, and we had a mutual understanding that that was the only shot I really had.\u201d<\/p>\n

When a reporter asked Swiatek whether it\u2019s unusual to get directly hit like that, she agreed with the premise. She also said she couldn't be sure whether Gauff had another option.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I know Coco is a nice person, and she wouldn\u2019t mean it,\u201d said Swiatek, a 22-year-old from Poland who is seeking a third title at Roland-Garros and fourth grand slam trophy overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing personal. It happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch Roland-Garros 2023 from May 28. Every match ad free and on demand.<\/strong> Centre court coverage in 4K UHD on Stan Sport<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

She improved to 7-0 against No.6 Gauff and has won all 14 sets they\u2019ve played against each other; that includes a 6-1, 6-3 victory for the 2022 championship in Paris.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously,\u201d Gauff remarked, \u201cyou lose to someone seven times, you feel crappy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swiatek will meet No.14 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, the first woman from Brazil to reach a grand slam semi-final since Maria Bueno at the 1968 US Open. The other women\u2019s match-up for a berth in the weekend's title match will be No.2 Aryna Sabalenka, who won the Australian Open in January, against unseeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n

Haddad Maia advanced by coming back for a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1 victory over No.7 Ons Jabeur, a two-time major runner-up in 2022.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Haddad Maia is a 27-year-old left-hander who was given a 10-month suspension after failing a doping test in 2019.<\/p>\n

She arrived in Paris with a 7-11 record at majors, never winning so much as one second-round match, until this 5-0 run.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my qualities,\u201d Haddad Maia said, \u201cis that I wait and I\u2019m very patient and I never give up.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> <\/em>clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This felt like a game Coco Gauff simply needed to claim if she intended to finally win a set, let alone a match, against No.1 […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":305476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305474"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=305474"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":305479,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305474\/revisions\/305479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/305476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=305474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=305474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=305474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}