News Sports Tennis French Open 2021 Lookahead: Coco Gauff, 17, seeks first Slam semifinal

French Open 2021 Lookahead: Coco Gauff, 17, seeks first Slam semifinal

If Gauff wins, she will be the youngest American woman to reach the final four in Paris since Jennifer Capriati was 14 in 1990. 

Coco Gauff Image Source : APCoco Gauff

LOOKAHEAD TO WEDNESDAY

Coco Gauff looks to take the next step in her rapid rise when she faces Barbora Krejcikova in the first Grand Slam quarterfinal for both. Gauff, a 17-year-old American, can become the youngest woman in the semifinals at any major tournament since 2006 with a victory. She is seeded 24th.

If Gauff wins, she will be the youngest American woman to reach the final four in Paris since Jennifer Capriati was 14 in 1990. Krejcikova is a 25-year-old from the Czech Republic who is ranked 33rd and narrowly missed out on being seeded at Roland Garros. Gauff is playing in her seventh Grand Slam tournament; Krejcikova in her fifth.

The day's second women's quarterfinal at Court Philippe Chatrier is 2020 champion Iga Swiatek against 17th-seeded Maria Sakkari, who is making her Slam quarterfinal debut.

In the men's quarterfinals, 13-time champion Rafael Nadal faces No. 10 seed Diego Schwartzman, before No. 1 Novak Djokovic meets No. 9 Matteo Berrettini at night. That will be the first night session of this year's tournament with fans allowed because a coronavirus curfew that has required spectators to clear out by 9 p.m. now will take effect two hours later.

WEDNESDAY'S FORECAST

Partly cloudy. High of 82 degrees Fahrenheit (28 Celsius).

TUESDAY’S WEATHER

Sunny. High of 78 degrees Fahrenheit (26 Celsius).

TUESDAY’S KEY RESULTS

Women’s Quarterfinals: No. 31 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat No. 21 Elena Rybakina 6-7 (2), 6-2, 9-7; Tamara Zidansek beat No. 33 Paula Badosa 7-5, 4-6, 8-6.

Men’s Quarterfinals: No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas beat No. 2 Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-6 (3), 7-5; No. 6 Alexander Zverev beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-4, 6-1, 6-1.

STAT OF THE DAY

39 — Forehand winners for Zidansek in her victory, which made her the first tennis player representing Slovenia to reach a Grand Slam semifinal.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I like France very much. During the match, I heard a lot of people cheering for Elena. But no worries, it actually helped me.” — Pavlyuchenkova, who represents Russia and lives in France, speaking to the crowd in French after her victory.