Protest rocks Gauff match as Sabalenka flips the script

Coco Gauff ignored the 50-minute distraction of a climate protest in the stands at the US Open to defeat Karolina Muchova 6-3, 7-5 on Thursday to book her second career Grand Slam final.

The 19-year-old will play for the trophy on Saturday against Aryna Sabalenka, who became only the third woman in the Open era to win a match after losing the opening set 0-6.

Sabalenka, who takes over the top WTA ranking on Monday, denied American Madison Keys in a 0-6, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (10-5) win.

Keys served for victory leading 5-4 in the second set but could not seal the deal; she went down in the tiebreaker as Sabalenka stayed in the fight.

Keys lost a break in the third set and saved two match points in the match tiebreak which closes out Grand Slam final sets before sending a return to lose after just over two and a half hours.

“I was all over the place (in the first set), Sabalenka said. “I’m just happy I was able to stay focused and finish.

“I don’t know how I won, she played incredible tennis.But somehow I turned around the match and won it.

“Being in this final means a lot to me, the reigning Australian Open champion said. 

“In the final against Coco, I know most of the crowd will be for her. 

“But I will go and do all I can, I’ll be fighting for every point, I will do my best.”

The Gauff match was interrupted with the American leading a set and 1-0.

Four protestors began shouting in the upper reaches of the vast arena with three being eventually led away by police while the other glued his bare feet to the cement floor.

Finally extracting him took up most of the time, while the befuddled players left the court.

The tournament explained the incident later: “Three of the four protesters were escorted out of the stadium without further incident. 

“The fourth protester affixed their bare feet to the floor of the seating bowl. Due to the nature of this action, NYPD and medical personnel were needed in order to safely remove this individual from the stadium.

 “The four protesters were taken into NYPD custody.” 

Gauff came back out to repeat her victory of last month in the Cincinnati final against the Roland Garros runner-up, advancing to the final on her sixth match point – preceded by a 40-shot rally.

The final will be the second for the Floridian after losing the French Open title match last season to Iga Swiatek.

“I grew up watching this event,” the winner said. “it means a lot to be in the final.

“There’s a lot to celebrate but the job is not done yet. I hope you fans back me on Saturday (final).

“It was a tough match… I had leads, lost it. Serving for it. It (brought) a lot of emotional challenges.

“But I think I did a good job of staying focused. I’m just really proud of myself today.”

The winner said the protest delay was difficult to deal with.

“We didn’t know how long it was going to take. The supervisor and security said it could be as quick as five minutes or as long as an hour.

“It was tough to figure out if we stay warm or conserve energy.

“But it’s life. It happens. So I just tried my best to keep the momentum that I had going from winning the first set and the first game.”

Gauff won her 11th straight match, her longest career win streak.

She becomes the youngest American woman to make the Open semi-finals since Serena Williams nearly a quarter of a century ago.