Coco Gauff rates her run to Australian Open semifinals a ‘C’ — ‘The match was full of mistakes’

US Open champion Coco Gauff won the Australian Open semi-finals on Tuesday but gave herself a ‘C’ grade for her performance, which she described as riddled with mistakes.

The American player, currently ranked fourth in the world, had a tough match against unseeded Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine but eventually emerged victorious 7-6, 6-7, 6-2.

Gauff will now face either defending champion Aryna Sabalenka or ninth seed Barbora Krejcikova in the semifinals on Thursday.

Despite her win, Gauff was critical of her performance, admitting she struggled on serve and missed many opportunities, hitting just 17 winners.

“I think today was definitely a ‘C’ game, so I didn’t play my best tennis, but really proud that I was able to get through today’s match,” said the 19-year-old tennis pro.

“I hope to avoid the bad match and play even better.”

Both players were responsible for the low-quality match, with a staggering 16 breaks of serve throughout the match and the pair committing 107 unforced errors. AFP mentionted.

“I was just trying to get one more game in the first set and at least make it competitive and then one game turned into another and I was able to win that set,” the American said.

She credited what she had learned when she won the US Open last year with helping her “solve the problem” at important times.

“It was very important. Today was frustrating because I knew how to play, I just couldn’t execute,” Gauff said. “But, yes, problem solving is tennis. You know, you can play someone today and maybe a week later they play you completely different,” he added.

“It’s part of it. At the end of the day you’re given a scouting report, but you have to go with emotion and try your best to win. That’s what I did today.”