Coco Gauff reached the semi-finals of the 2024 Berlin Open after her quarter-final opponent, Ons Jabeur, was forced to retire after one set of play.
Saturday’s schedule in Berlin was supposed to be packed with tennis, but fans in the German capital won’t get as much tennis as they thought. Two quarter-final matches were set to be played after they couldn’t be played on Friday due to rain, and one had to be finished.
In the first one, Aryna Sabalenka retired after only six games, sending Anna Kalinskaya to the semi-finals of the WTA 500 tournament. And only minutes later, the second quarter-final between Gauff and Jabeur ended in yet another retirement.
They played one full set, and it was a very long and competitive set of play. However, at the end of it, the Tunisian player, who asked for a physio already during the tie-break, retired after losing the exhausting tie-break 9-11 despite having set points.
She seemed fine throughout the set without too many issues. In fact, she had multiple set points in the tie-break alone but then ran out of the stream towards the end.
It’s not how either Gauff or Kalinskaya wanted to make the semi-final, but considering the schedule and that they’ll be back on the courts, it’s not the worst scenario for either, and their opponents, Sabalenka and Jabeur, likely retired mostly as a precaution due to the upcoming Wimbledon Championships.
Gauff, to her credit, looked really sharp in this match and was the better player. She dominated on her serve dropping only a handful of points and saving both break points.
On return, the 20-year-old created a lot of trouble for her opponent but wasn’t able to break her opponent, even wasting seven set points when leading 5-4. After the match, she had only nice words for her opponent.
“It doesn’t feel like a win. Especially because we had such a great first set. I wish Ons the best. I think it’s something that’s just gonna happen today and she’ll feel better tomorrow. I think she’ll be strong at Wimbledon.”