{"id":329340,"date":"2023-09-08T06:18:19","date_gmt":"2023-09-08T06:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=329340"},"modified":"2023-09-08T08:01:05","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T08:01:05","slug":"semis-crazy-finish-as-awkward-moment-throws-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=329340","title":{"rendered":"Semi's 'crazy' finish as awkward moment throws star"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US Open will crown a new victor of the women's draw with \ufeffAryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff<\/a> to play in their first final at Flushing Meadows on Sunday morning (AEST).<\/p>\n

The slam looked set to host its first all-American singles final in six years between Madison Keys<\/a> and Gauff before Sabalenka squashed the dream with an epic comeback in her semi final.<\/p>\n

Soon-to-be-world No.1, Sabalenka progressed to Sunday's final with a 0-6, 7-6(1), 7-6(10-5) victory over Keys on Arthur Ashe Stadium – even celebrating prematurely by mistake.<\/p>\n

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\"Aryna<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, Gauff won her way through with a dominant win over Karolina Muchova<\/a>.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeffKeys, the tournament's No.17 seed, stunned Sabalenka early by winning the first set 6-0 before serving\ufeff for the second set, but failed to close out the match.<\/p>\n

On several occasions, \ufeffKeys looked like she would go on to win the match – finding herself up 4-2 in both the second and third sets.<\/p>\n

After being broken\ufeff early in the second set, Sabalenka threw her racquet towards her coaching box in frustration.<\/p>\n

However, \ufeffshe rallied from behind and after two hours\ufeff and 20 minutes the match was forced to a deciding match tiebreak where the Belarusian quickly shot out to a 4-0 lead.<\/p>\n

Watch US Open 2023 live and free on<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. Alternatively, you can stream every match live, ad-free and on demand on<\/strong><\/em> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, with centre court in 4K UHD<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Sabalenka<\/p>\n

In a slightly embarrassing moment at \ufeff7-3 up in the match tiebreak, Sabalenka briefly thought she had clinched victory, throwing her hands up in celebration and looking relieved.<\/p>\n

Under a new rule, which was brought in at this year's Australian Open\ufeff, the winner of a final set tiebreak is the first player to reach 10 points with at least a two-point winning margin instead of seven as is the case in the other sets.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Australian legend Renae Stubbs post-match, Sabalenka was able to laugh at her error.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffI thought that we played that [tiebreak] up to seven. I don't know I was just all over the place and it was crazy," she said with a grin.<\/p>\n

"But thanks\ufeff to my team for reminding me that I actually have to get to 10.<\/p>\n

"I'm really happy that after that reaction I was able to \ufeffstay focused and I was able to finish this match because it could have been the other way round."<\/p>\n

Gauff, a 19-year-old from Florida, reached her first final at Flushing Meadows by defeating Muchova 6-4, 7-5 on what was anything but an ordinary evening.<\/p>\n

The toughest part for Gauff might have been closing out the victory – she needed six match points to get it done, raucously supported by a loud, partisan crowd that chair umpire Alison Hughes repeatedly implored to quiet down.<\/p>\n

After failing to convert one match point while serving for the win at 5-3, then another four in what turned out to be the last game, Gauff got the last chance she would need when she smacked a forehand winner to cap a 40-stroke exchange that was the longest of the contest. Muchova then missed a backhand to end it.<\/p>\n

\"Gauff<\/p>\n

Gauff pumped her fists, waved to the fans, and put a finger to her ear as if to say she wanted to hear even more home support.<\/p>\n

"Some of those points, it was so loud, and I don't know if my ears are going to be OK," said Gauff, the first American teenager to make it to the title match in New York since Serena Williams in 2001.<\/p>\n

"I grew up watching this tournament so much, so it means a lot to be in the final. A lot to celebrate," Gauff said.<\/p>\n

"But the job is not done, so hopefully you can back me on Saturday (Sunday AEST)."<\/p>\n

Gauff's victory was put on hold for more than 45 minutes when a climate protester glued himself to the stadium and police were called in<\/a>.<\/p>\n

– with AP\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US Open will crown a new victor of the women's draw with \ufeffAryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff to play in their first final at […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":329342,"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\/329340"}],"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=329340"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329346,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329340\/revisions\/329346"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/329342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=329340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=329340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=329340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}