Marta Kostyuk beats Coco Gauff in nearly 3-hour epic to reach Stuttgart semis, will face Marketa Vondrousova
US Open tennis champion and world No.3 Coco Gauff saved seven match points on Friday (19 April) - but couldn't fight off an eighth, falling to world No.27 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, 3-6 6-4 7-6(6) in two hours and 48 minutes.
It marked a third straight to-the-distance win for Kostyuk, and second over a top 10 opponent, having beaten Australian Open runner-up Zheng Qinwen in the second round.
Kostyuk will face 2023 Wimbledon champion and Olympic silver medallist Marketa Vondrousova of Czechia in the Stuttgart semi-finals on Saturday (20 April).
Vondrousova beat Australian Open winner Aryna Sabalenka in another tight-as-can-be encounter, 3-6 6-3 7-5.
World No.1 and reigning Stuttgart champion Iga Swiatek will take on 2022 Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina in the other semi. Swiatek beat 2021 US Open champ Emma Raducanu in the quarters in what was a star-packed final eight at the Porsche Grand Prix.
Kostyuk hit 35 winners in the topsy turvy encounter that featured 16 breaks. Gauff actually won more points, 117 to 116.
"It was very, very close," Kostyuk said after. "It's really a matter of a couple of points, if not one. It's an amazing feeling to be in the semifinals here."
Stuttgart marks the first major red clay court event of the 2024 season, the WTA 500 staged indoors. Madrid and Rome will follow over the coming weeks, with Roland-Garros set for the end of May. Stade Roland-Garros will be home of the Olympic tennis event, making a return to the red clay surface for the first time since Barcelona 1992.
