USA’s flag bearer and Tennis star Coco Gauff was in tears as she lost against Croatia’s Donna Vekic 7-6(7), 6-2. The Croatian will now compete in the quarterfinals of the women’s singles event against the winner of the match between Marta Kostyuk and Maria Sakkari. On the other hand, Gauff will join Taylor Fritz in the Mixed Doubles contest.
After a flying start, Coco Gauff had a hiccup after going up 4-1 as Donna Vekic took the first set after a thrilling tiebreak. Then as the Croatian was 3-2 up in Set 2, Gauff faced a massive break point at 30-40. As she attempted to hit a backhand, the linesperson made an out call before Gauff swung her racket and she immediately slowed down and missed.
Coco Gauff left in tears after argument with chair umpire
A five-minute argument followed where Gauff called the tournament supervisor and was in tears as she said, “I feel like I’m getting cheated constantly in this game. This is the 3rd time this happened to me this year”. After this incident, Gauff had virtually lost the match and settled for a 7-6(7), 6-2 loss.
I felt that he called it before I hit: Coco Gauff
After the game, Coco Gauff called out the officiating as she said, “There’s been multiple times this year where that’s happened to me — where I felt like I always have to be an advocate for myself on the court. I felt that he called it before I hit, and I don’t think the ref disagreed,” she said. “I think he just thought it didn’t affect my swing, which I felt like it did.”