Due to a disturbance by four environmental activists in the Arthur Ashe Stadium stands in New York City on Thursday night, Coco Gauff’s U.S. Open semifinal triumph over Karolina Muchova was delayed by 50 minutes. One demonstrator applied concrete floor adhesive to his bare feet.
As play was stopped in the second set, Gauff had a 1-0 advantage. She would ultimately triumph 6-4, 7-5. Security officials and later more than a dozen police officers approached the demonstrators, who were sporting “Stop Fossil Fuels” t-shirts, and confronted them. Three of the demonstrators, according to the U.S. Tennis Association, were led out of the stadium without further incident, but it took longer to eject the protester who had his feet firmly planted in the ground.
Extinction Rebellion claimed responsibility for the demonstration.
The Associated Press was informed by one of the demonstrators, who went by the name Ian, that the organization thinks the U.S. Open has sponsorship agreements with businesses whose practices contribute to global warming. “We are not trying to harm the athletes in any way. We have nothing against the sport,” he commented. “But we are really trying to draw attention to an issue here that there will be no tennis left for anybody in the world to enjoy.”
Three protesters have disrupted Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova's semifinal chanting "end fossil fuels". Play has been stopped for nearly 10 minutes, security struggling to get the final protester to leave
New York crowd not shy about voicing their thoughts #USOpen pic.twitter.com/QhL02dF2mP
— Molly McElwee (@molly_mcelwee) September 8, 2023
PICTURED: A climate protester glued his feet to the floor at the US Open after interrupting the match between Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova. #USOpen #USOpen2023
Photos from @jackciapciak. pic.twitter.com/XWhNKFCDZl
— EnvirosTakingLs (@EnvirosTakingLs) September 8, 2023
Gauff at the U.S. Open, ranking, and results in 2023
Now the world no.6, Gauff has an overall 44-13 match record in 2023. Gauff is currently having a run at the U.S. Open where she managed to beat the world no.121 Laura Siegemund 3-6 6-2 6-4, the world no.63 Mirra Andreeva 6-3 6-2, the world no.32 Elise Mertens 3-6 6-3 6-0, the world no.623 Caroline Wozniacki 6-3 3-6 6-1, the world no.21 Jelena Ostapenko 6-0 6-2 and the world no.10 Karolina Muchova 6-4 7-5.
Coco has won 3 titles in 2023 in Auckland, Washington and Cincinnati.
Gauff won 5 titles in her career: 3 on hard courts, 1 on clay courts and 1 on indoor courts. (See the list of her titles)
Karolina Muchova in 2023
Currently ranked no.10 (career-high), the Czech played her last match on the 7th of September when she was defeated by world no.6 Cori Gauff 6-4 7-5 in the semifinal of the U.S. Open (draw).
Currently, during this year Muchova achieved a compiled 38-13 match record. Karolina Muchova’s best result of the present year was getting to the final at the French Open and Cincinnati.
Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova clashed against each other only 2 times. Their actual head to head record is 2-0 for Gauff. Before, the last time they competed against each other, Coco Gauff won 6-4 7-5 in the semifinal in New York (U.S. Open) on the 7th of September 2023.
In the following video you can watch the key moments of their match.
Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova |
Embed from Getty Images |