Coco Gauff Wins First Grand Slam With US Open Victory

US women's tennis player Coco Gauff celebrated her victory in the final round of the US Open 2023 at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, New York, USA, Saturday (9/9/2023). (ANTARA/AFP/Getty Images via AFP/ELSA)

JAKARTA - Young American female tennis player Coco Gauff won her first Grand Slam title after winning the final round against Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) in the 2023 US Open tournament, Sunday, Western Indonesian Time (WIB).

Gauff put on a brave game on the pitch at Arthur Ashe Stadium, New York, USA, to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in 2 hours 6 minutes over the second seed in a heroic manner.

The sixth seed from Florida advanced to the final as an unseeded player. Moreover, Sabalenka will also become the world number one female tennis player next week.

The win completes a remarkable turnaround for Gauff, who felt distraught after her first round exit at Wimbledon in July.

However, the 19-year-old bounced back to win titles in Washington and Cincinnati, and is now on to the biggest win of his career, after a devastating defeat in his first Grand Slam final at last year's French Open.

"This means a lot to me. I feel a little shocked right now. Losing at the French Open (last year) broke my heart. (Winning at the US Open) This makes this moment sweeter than I could have imagined," said Gauff, quoted from AFP, reported by Antara.

Gauff, the third American teenager to win the US Open after Tracy Austin and Serena Williams, also used her victory speech to thank those who doubted her talent.

"Honestly, thank you to the people who didn't believe me. For those who thought they were throwing water on my fire, but what happened was they actually poured gas on my fire and my (spirit) is burning very brightly right now," she said.

Meanwhile, Sabalenka said he made many mistakes in the final and the real fight was within him. However, Sabalenka said Gauff deserved to win the title because of her extraordinary performance.

"She was absolutely incredible today," Sabalenka said of Gauff.

"But in the second set I probably started to think too much and because of that I started to lose strength. Then she started to move better and I started missing a lot of easy shots," said Sabalenka.

Meanwhile, the US Open men's singles final will pit second seed Novak Djokovic (Serbia) against third seed Daniil Medvedev (Russia). The final round will be broadcast on Monday, September 11 WIB.