NEW YORK — Coco Gauff never wavered one bit Thursday night.
Not when match point after match point went by the wayside. Not during a 40-shot exchange that ultimately helped decide the outcome. And not, most distracting of all, when her U.S. Open semifinal against Karolina Muchova was interrupted for 50 minutes by environmental activists — one of whom glued his bare feet to the concrete floor in the stands.
It’s been rather obvious for quite some time that Gauff is no ordinary teenager. Now she is one win away from becoming a Grand Slam champion.
Gauff, a 19-year-old Atlanta native who has long called Florida home, reached her first final at Flushing Meadows by defeating Muchova 6-4, 7-5 on what was anything but an ordinary evening.
“I really believe that now I have the maturity and ability to do it,” said Gauff, who came close to a major trophy last year in the French Open but lost the title match. “You know, regardless of what happens on Saturday, I’m really proud of how I have been handling the last few weeks.”