By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, June 9, 2021
Barbora Krejcikova saved 5 set points in the first set and rolled through 15 straight points in the second stopping Coco Gauff 7-6(6), 6-3 to reach the Roland Garros semifinals.
Photo credit: @RolandGarros
Spiking stress reduced Barbora Krejcikova to tears before her French Open fourth-round win.
Staring down a 3-5 deficit in the quarterfinals today, Krejcikova was in no mood for sob stories.
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A calm Krejcikova fought off five set points in the first set then surged through 15 straight points in the second stopping Coco Gauff's inspired Roland Garros run 7-6(6), 6-3 battling into her first Grand Slam single semifinal.
It's the 10th straight clay-court victory for Krejcikova, who tuned up for Paris winning her first WTA singles title in Strasbourg.
A wild and unpredictable Roland Garros rolls on.
The 33rd-ranked Czech joins 85th-ranked Tamara Zidansek as the second unseeded semifinalist. Krejcikova will face 17th-seeded Maria Sakkari for a spot in Saturday's final. A superb Sakkari swept Iga Swiatek 6-4, 6-4 snapping the defending champion's 11-match Roland Garros winning streak to make history as the first Greek woman to reach a Grand Slam semifinal.
Krejcikova is 2-0 lifetime vs. Sakkari, including a 6-2, 7-6(4) win on hard court in Dubai earlier this season.
"I just feel she's a very good player. She's really athletic," Krejcikova said of Sakkari. "She also have experience. I think it's just going to be another tough match. I'm in a semifinal...
"I just know it's going to be tough. I just have to prepare well and just go out there and try to play my best tennis. Most importantly, just enjoy."
Last fall, Krejcikova arrived in Paris ranked No. 114 and produced pleasure in Paris fighting through to her first major fourth-round appearance.
Today, Krejcikova showed steely spine rallying from 0-3 and 3-5 first-set deficit snapping Gauff's nine-match winning streak.
All this from a woman who was so stressed out before her fourth-round shellacking of Sloane Stephens, she locked herself in the physio room and had a good cry that proved to be the catharsis she needed.
"I was just like, Oh, my God, what if I'm going to lose 0, 0. It would be a disaster, stuff like this," Krejcikova said of shedding tears prior to the fourth round. "But I think it really helped me. I mean, for this match, for example for today, I was just super relaxed and I didn't have these feelings again.
"I think it was just a tough day, just a tough day. You have to just go and you have to try to overcome this somehow. For me, it was helpful to actually talk to my psychologist and just talk about it, just have some good words from her because she knows."
The 17-year-old Gauff, who played with poise and grit throughout a phenomenal run, exhibited inexperience and jitters at times playing just her seventh Grand Slam.
Gauff's two-handed backhand, typically her most reliable stroke, betrayed her at times as she committed 41 unforced errors—13 more than her opponent—failed to convert on five set points and smashed her Head racquet to the court as she spiraled down in the second set.
Rousing herself, Gauff fought off six match points rallying from 0-5 down with a three-game run in the second set and left the court determined to draw the positives from a strong clay-court campaign and her first major quarterfinal.
"I'm obviously disappointed that I wasn't able to close out the first set," Gauff said. "To be honest, it's in the past, it already happened. After the match, Enzo, my hitting partner, told me this match will probably make me a champion in the future. I really do believe that."
Ultimately, Krejcikova played pressure points with more clarity and care.
The former doubles world No. 1, who is also through to the doubles semifinal with compatriot Katerina Siniakova, never flinched in the face of all the deficits she faced. Krejcikova converted four of six break points and converted her sixth match point to seal her biggest singles victory flipping the script on a first-set that seemed firmly in Gauff's grip.
Serving for a one-set lead at 5-3, Gauff missed a backhand beyond the baseline on set point. A double fault and a netted backhand from the teenager gave Krejcikova her second break.
The 25-year-old Czech stamped a love hold to level the set after 10 games. Krejcikova opened the 12th game with her fifth double fault. Gauff won a fierce exchange of crosscourt backhands to earn her second set point, but Krejcikova saved it with an inside-out forehand.
The American's slice skimmed the net, Krejcikova attacked behind a fine slice backhand, but Gauff, sprinting to her run, spun a fantastic forehand pass for a third set point.
Put to the test again, Krejcikova, who was catching her service toss at times, lashed a backhand down the line. When Gauff missed a backhand, Krejcikova pushed the opening set to a tie breaker after one hour of play.
A calm Krejcikova faced every stress test in the set with controlled aggression and some bold strikes. Down an early mini-break in the tie breaker, Gauff reeled off six of the next eight points earning two more set points.
Facing a fourth set point, Krejcikova cracked a forehand winner. On Gauff's fifth set point, Krejcikova curled a sharp-angled forehand crosscourt to deny it.
When Gauff's normally rock-solid backhand found the net, the Czech had her first set point. Krejcikova played it masterfully, kicking her serve wide to displace the teenager then cracking a forehand down the line to steal the 70-minute opening set that had been in Gauff's grasp several times.
The unsettling variety Krejcikova unleashed frustrated Gauff into errors as she sometimes tried pressing the issue infusing more pace in her drives, but forcing the issue generated more unforced errors. Gauff squandered a 40-15 lead dumping her sixth double fault and an unforced error as Krejcikova seized the opening break in the second set.
The Strasbourg champion was still chasing her toss, but found her groove cruising through a love hold to extend her lead to 3-0 with an eight-point run.
Festering frustration over opportunity lost finally boiled over erupting in Gauff.
Playing just her seventh Grand Slam, Gauff erupted in a primal scream, spit up her seventh double fault to drop serve at love then wound up and spiked her Head racquet to the clay in a rare display of anger falling into a deep 0-4 chasm.
Seeing her opponent unravel, Krejcikova kept churning on rolling through 15 straight points for a 5-0 lead.
Still, Gauff would not relent and went down swinging. The teenager fought off triple match point breaking back with a firm "come on!" for 2-5.
Darting 101 mph second serve down the middle, Gauff saved a fourth match point but scattered a slice backhand to face match point number five. Krejcikova netted a running forehand as her fifth match point faded.
When Krejcikova put a drive into net, Gauff survived a hard-fought hold in the eighth game.
"I never want to give up," Gauff said. "Today I really did fight till the last point. I'm proud that I didn't give up because I could have easily gave up at 5-0 or 5-1.
"I think losing these matches are going to pay off in the future. I think if I continue fighting like this, other players, maybe if they do have the lead, will start to get nervous because they know I'm not going to give in."
Serving for the semifinals for a second time, Krejcikova opened with a forehand down the line and provoked a pair of errors to again earn triple match point on serve.
On her sixth match point, Krejcikova finally closed on a wild, wide Gauff forehand completing a one hour, 50-minute win that was more about her imposing her mental strength than her invoking the vast variety in her game.
Krejcikova's dream run rolls on in both singles and doubles. The 2018 Roland Garros doubles champion can regain the world No. 1 doubles rank if she and Siniakova take the title and she's already assured of her highest-ever singles ranking at No. 23 in the live rankings.