“Coco Gauff has a game that puts Aryna Sabalenka in uncomfortable positions” – Andrea Petkovic ahead of duo’s Australian Open SF clash

Andrea Petkovic has shared her thoughts on the highly anticipated semifinal showdown between Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka at the 2024 Australian Open.

Gauff faced a challenging path to her maiden Australian Open semifinal, taking on Marta Kostyuk in the quarterfinals. The American fended off two set points in the opener and staged a comeback after failing to serve out the match in the second set, claiming a hard-fought 7-6(6), 6-7(3), 6-2 win after a three-hour and eight-minute battle.

Sabalenka, on the other hand, marched into the semifinals with a commanding 6-2, 6-3 win over Barbora Krejcikova. The defending champion has delivered a dominant campaign in Melbourne, dropping just 16 games and not losing a single set en route to the last four.

Speaking on The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, Andre Petkovic provided her analysis on the blockbuster semifinal clash. She pointed out that Coco Gauff enjoyed a 4-2 lead in their head-to-head record, emphasizing how the American’s style of play forced Sabalenka into uncomfortable positions.

“And it has to be mentioned Coco Gauff has a 4-2 head-to-head. I’m a strong believer in head-to-head so clearly Coco has a game that puts Aryna in uncomfortable positions so that’s something to keep an eye on,” she said (at 16:21).

Petkovic also highlighted the “golden rule” in tennis, asserting that after overcoming a subpar performance in the previous match, like Gauff did in the quarterfinals, good players typically played “amazing” in the following match.

“And this is a golden rule in tennis that I’ve seen over and over and over again, when you get through a terrible match where you haven’t felt one shot, when you’re a good player, you will play amazing the next match. That’s normally because you’re happy to still be there and you will swing freely,” she said.

However, the German conceded that if the 19-year-old was struggling with a technical issue rather than just a temporary dip in performance, she might find it tough to challenge Sabalenka.

“I’m not sure, because some of the shots yesterday from Coco looked so bad, whether it’s a technical issue, then you won’t be able to swing through it if it’s a technical issue. But if she was just tight, the conditions were different and she was afraid to lose, then I think she will play much better,” she added.