'Anything can happen' - 'Progressing' Coco Gauff could win French Open, says Patrick Mouratoglou

Serena Williams and Simona Halep's coach Patrick Mouratoglou believes Coco Gauff is physically and mentally prepared unlike before to win her first ever Grand Slam title. Gauff has not dropped a set en route to the French Open semi-finals this year and will play Italian Martina Trevisan in the final four in Paris on Thursday afternoon. Ad/> The American burst onto the tennis scene as a 15-year-old at Wimbledon in 2019 when she knocked out compatriot Venus Williams in the first round.

At the 2020 Australian Open, Gauff beat Naomi Osaka — who was defending champion at the time — in straight sets in the third round. Roland-Garros'I expect much better from myself' — Halep's coach apologises after her shock exit27/05/2022 AT 12:01 But despite a flurry of shock wins, Gauff is yet to come close to winning a Grand Slam. Reaching the semi-finals of this year’s French Open is a career-best result for the 18-year-old.

Mouratoglou thinks Gauff's game has greatly improved in recent months and that she now has the mental resilience and the game needed to win her first Grand Slam title. “She is progressing at her pace,” the Frenchman told Eurosport’s Mats Wilander. “She is not someone who suddenly exploded with winning a Grand Slam coming from nowhere.

And in a way it’s better because she’s building the foundations for the future. “Everybody thought she would very early because she had beaten Venus Williams at Wimbledon and beat Naomi Osaka the year after at the Australian Open and people think ‘she is ready [to win Grand Slams]’. Gauff sweeps Stephens aside to reach first Grand Slam semi-final French Open order of play: Swiatek v Kasatkina, Trevisan v Gauff “She was not ready and when you see her now you realise that she was not ready