OT: Coco Gauff playing 2nd Rd match at 9:00 EST on ESPN3

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Gauff vs 14th seed US player Kenin now underway. Kenin up a break at 3-2 first set so far

 

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Gauff now even on serve (and what a serve she has). Super solid so far. 5-4.

Edit. Coco wins set one in tie breaker. Up 6-2, henin closed to 6-5 but Coco toughs it out for 7-5 tie breaker. Both players playing at a high level.

Coco has improved her consistency so much so quickly. Very impressed.

 

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Coco losing her game. Very inconsistent Loses set 2 6-3 and is broken in first game of set 3.

Henin has alot of touch and variety.

 

[Mulder]

Sofia Kenin defeated Coco Gauff in three sets: 7-6 3-6- 0-6

 

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Typo on the last set

7-6 3-6- 0-6

Cocos game just fell apart after a very consistent 1st set . Amazing how nerves can come at the strangest moments. Another learning moment

Good Luck to Sophia Henin (USA)

 

[calpedaler]

Typo on the last set

7-6 3-6- 0-6

Cocos game just fell apart after a very consistent 1st set . Amazing how nerves can come at the strangest moments. Another learning moment

Good Luck to Sophia Henin (USA)

I thought Sophia Kenin was relentless and wore Gauff out. Very smart to go after Gauff's forehand, which seems to breakdown in tight situations.

 

[Mulder]

Sofia Kenin, the No.14 seed, was on a mission after taking the second set.
This was Coco first defeat in three sets at a major.

 

[eebmg]

That was quite the women's semifinals.
Tough hard fought matches under very tough heat conditions

American Kenin (maybe the Gauff loss was not as big a disappointment as we thought) takes down #1 and Aussie great hope Bardy 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 (fighting back from a 5-3 deficit in set 2 breaking Bardy 2 times in a row) and unranked Marguruza takes down #4 Halep by the same score 7-6 (10-8) 7-5 in a very high quality match

 

[eebmg]

Any time there's an American in the final of a grand slam, I'm happy. Someone (or more likely, half a dozen someones) are going to need to carry the torch the Williams Sisters have carried for the past 15 years. Stephens and Keys looked promising candidates for a while, but both have backslid substantially in recent months...

Kenin seems to be the real deal. Real tough minded player with a very competitive persona. Coached by her father which I find very cool in this era of revolving door coaches. Stephens and Keys are far more athletically gifted but seem to be pretty fragile.

In general, there are enough good US womens players that I do not worry about the general health of women's tennis in the US. Now the men's side .....

 

[TheFarmFan]

In general, there are enough good US womens players that I do not worry about the general health of women's tennis in the US. Now the men's side .....

While I totally agree that the state of the U.S. men's game is far more troubling, it's worth noting that when Stephens won the 2017 U.S. Open she was the first American woman not named Williams to win a grand slam since Lindsay Davenport at the 2000 Australian open - 20 years ago. I doubt that either Williams sister will be playing in another two years, so it's time for the next generation of American women to step up. Here's hoping the Kenin-Goff match was a preview of many finals to come...

 

[EricLA]

US women's tennis is in great hands with the youngsters and the future is really bright. In the top 25 alone - Williams, Kenin, Keys, Riske, Anisimova, Collins, and fading Stevens at 27. Riske and Kenin should rise after the Aussie Open, but I'm not sure about the rest of the Americans.

Add in Gauff, who at only 15, can't play in every tourney. Jennifer Brady is in the top 50 and Gauff, Pera, Pegula and Davis are in the top 70. Most of them are young (under 23 or so).

USA men's tennis - fuggetaboutit... just a mess.

 

[eebmg]

KENIN WINS 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. Fantastic play by Kenin. In 3rd set, after falling behind 0-40 on her serve, played 5 of the most clutch points you will ever see. Broke to 4-2. Until then, Muguruza had played very well but after, was shell shocked a bit and her serve really broke down. Multiple double faults including both break points. Tough way to lose the final.

 

[TheFarmFan]

Someone (or more likely, half a dozen someones) are going to need to carry the torch the Williams Sisters have carried for the past 15 years.

This post aged well! KENIN!!! She becomes our second non-Williams grand slam champ in TWENTY years. It's pretty crazy to think how long and hard champs like Clijsters, Wozniacki, and Halep had to grind away to finally get their first championship, and Kenin floats totally under the radar and achieves it when she's barely legal to drink. DVR'd the match and can't wait to watch it at the gym later. Between her win and Goff's steady rise, really encouraging start to this tennis season for the American women.

 

[eebmg]

This post aged well! KENIN!!! She becomes our second non-Williams grand slam champ in TWENTY years. It's pretty crazy to think how long and hard champs like Clijsters, Wozniacki, and Halep had to grind away to finally get their first championship, and Kenin floats totally under the radar and achieves it when she's barely legal to drink. DVR'd the match and can't wait to watch it at the gym later. Between her win and Goff's steady rise, really encouraging start to this tennis season for the American women.

'floats' is a funny word but I agree she is in singular company winning her grand slam so young and on her first try (never past the 4th round before in a major I believe) Beating both Gauff and Bardy with crowds heavily on the opponents side is equally remarkable. Hope she can keep it up. Her mental and emotional strength certainly points to a long and successful career

 

[Mulder]

Congratulations to The 2020 Australian Open Champion Sofia Kenin

 

[TheFarmFan]

Since there seem to be a few fellow tennis fans out there, thought this was an interesting turn of events: the Head of the German Tennis Federation is claiming Wimbledon has been cancelled for 2020, although no such official word has been released:

Wimbledon 2020 'to be cancelled on Wednesday' as French Open fury grows

Wimbledon organisers will announce the cancellation of the 2020 tournament on Wednesday because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the German Tennis Federation vice-president

www.theguardian.com

 

[Lorcan]

Since there seem to be a few fellow tennis fans out there, thought this was an interesting turn of events: the Head of the German Tennis Federation is claiming Wimbledon has been cancelled for 2020, although no such official word has been released:

Wimbledon 2020 'to be cancelled on Wednesday' as French Open fury grows

Wimbledon organisers will announce the cancellation of the 2020 tournament on Wednesday because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the German Tennis Federation vice-president

www.theguardian.com

Given that Wimbledon has insurance for pandemics like this (who knew!?!) cancellation at the All England Lawn and Tennis Club makes sense instead of unilaterally rescheduling and causing a kerfuffle like the French Open did seems like a sensible course of action.

What remains to be seen is how this affects Olympic Qualifying. This might give renewed hope to players like Venus to get her act together and get some good results in the next year, or even it might allow Coco to sneak in. As things stand, the Americans can only send four players to the Olympics and it is dictated by ranking order. As of right now, it would be Kenin, Serena, Riske, and Keys getting the bids to the Olympics, with Venus, Gauff, Stephens (how horrendous has she been of late?), and others looking in.