US Open: Coco Gauff wins first major tennis title

US Open: Coco Gauff wins first major tennis title

 

Coco Gauff won the US Open women’s final, becoming the latest Black American woman to leave a history-making mark on the most sacred grounds of US tennis.

Gauff beat Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus on Saturday 6-2 in the final set.

Gauff’s upset win at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows, New York City, etches her name into the history books alongside other Black American women’s tennis icons like Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Althea Gibson.

Gauff beat soon-to-be No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in New York City to win one tennis’ most prized trophies.

Gibson won the US National Championship women’s singles titles in 1957 and 1958, a forerunner of the U.S. Open.

Venus, the older Williams sister, won the U.S. Open in 2001 and 2002 while Serena took the championships of 1999, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Those six US Open singles titles by Serena Williams are only matched by Chris Evert’s half-dozen championships in the tournament’s modern era, 1975-78 and 1980 and 1982.

She has come close before as the French Open runner-up in 2022 and when she reached the quarterfinals in Flushing Meadows last year.

It was in the low 80s when the first ball was served at about 4:15 p.m. in Queens and the roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium was closed to mitigate some of the heat.