Coco Gauff was bested by Marta Kostyuk in the quarter-final of the 2024 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
Gauff arrived in Europe with high expectations of herself. Her clay performances in the past have been pretty solid, and she has played in a Roland Garros final before. That's why she has high expectations of herself.
Her goal is to win the French Open, and she's shown some glimpses of form that would make that plausible. She didn't play her best tennis, though, as her first match at the event was complicated and barely a win.
This performance was much better, far more sturdy, but only in certain moments. The Ukrainian is a very aggressive player who can do some damage, but Gauff tried to counter that in her typical fashion.
She had plenty of problems with her serve, but her play in return games is what makes her so dangerous on clay. It's very hard to win a game against her on serve because she's just so quick around the court, and every ball gets sent back.
Opponents need to be consistent with it, and Kostyuk hasn't been like that early on in this match. She was broken three times in the opening set, as the 20-year-old won it 6-3.
She did break Gauff twice, but the American added one break on top of that, so that was not enough. The second set was another break carousel as both players struggled to keep their serve.
The first five games of the set were breaks; at the end of all that, it was Gauff leading. From 4-2 and 30-15 in the second set, the American lost four straight games to lose the set 4-6, as her opponent forced a decider.
An early break in the third set was a good start for Gauff, but she lost the advantage again. The finish of the set was hugely exciting as Gauff saved three match points at 4-5, breaking in the very next game for a 6-5 lead, but failing to serve out the match.
It was decided in a third-set tie-break, and despite saving seven match points in total in the third set, Gauff wasn't able to win the nerve-racking quarter-final clash, as Kostyuk rallied to a win, triumphing 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(6) to set up a semi-final meeting with Marketa Vondrousova, who outplayed Aryna Sabalenka.