Gauff dominates Jabeur to reach French Open quarterfinals

Paris - Gauff wrapped up the win in less than an hour and is yet to drop a set in the tournament

American teenager Coco Gauff reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal with a crushing 6-3 6-1 defeat of Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in the fourth round of the French Open on Monday.

The 17-year-old capitalised on a nervous start by Jabeur and never let her opponent off the hook in a clinical display.

Jabeur, like Gauff a former junior French Open champion, tried to mix things up with her trademark drop shots but nothing could disrupt her opponent’s flow.

Gauff wrapped up the win in less than an hour on her fourth match point and is yet to drop a set in the tournament.

She will face Czech Barbora Krejcikova, who swept American Sloane Stephens aside 6-2 6-0, for a place in the semis.

“It means a lot to me, especially as I have lost in the fourth round a couple of times so it feels good to get over that hurdle,” 24th seed Gauff told reporters. “Today I played probably my best match so far in the tournament.”

Gauff looked supremely composed throughout and her serving would have done justice to her idol Serena Williams.

She served no double faults and such was the accuracy and power of her serve that Jabeur won only nine points off it.

Meanwhile, Krejcikova said she was so stressed out before her fourth-round match against Stephens on Monday that she cried and needed a pep talk from her psychologist to convince her to step onto the court.

The 25-year-old former top-ranked doubles player showed no signs of that anxiety once her contest on the Suzanne Lenglen court began, however, as she swept aside former finalist Stephens 6-2 6-0.

“I actually really don’t know what happened today because I just woke up and I just felt really bad,” Krejcikova, ranked 33rd in the world, told reporters.

“I just felt really stressed. I don’t know why or what for.”

Krejcikova has not lost since a maiden title-winning run in Strasbourg ahead of the French Open and on Monday took just 67 minutes to crush 2017 US Open champion Stephens.