Halep ends wayward Gauff’s Wimbledon dream

Romania’s Simona Halep shakes hands with Cori Gauff of the US after their fourth round match, Ten-nis, Wimbledon, All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain, 8 July – Reuters/Tony O’Brien

LONDON (Reuters): Coco Gauff’s dream Wimbledon run came to an abrupt end yesterday when the consistency of seventh seed and former world number one Simona Halep proved a step too far for the 15-year-old American, who went down 6-3 6-3 in only 75 minutes. After stunning Venus Williams then saving two match points en route to beating Polona Hercog last week, Gauff was suddenly the hottest ticket in town but she was always going to find it tough against Halep, last year’s French Open champion and the first top-10 opponent she had ever faced.

Bidding to become the youngest Wimbledon quarter-finalist since fellow-15-year-old Jennifer Capriati in 1991, Gauff was by no means overawed, keeping the crowd entertained with some crashing back-hands and athletic recoveries, but there were also far too many simple errors that the American was never going to get away with at this stage of the tournament. Halep, who had given an indication of her form when dismissing the dangerous Victoria Azarenka in the last round, initially struggled, including in the third game where she sent down three successive double faults.

But Gauff was even more inconsistent, mixing up some superb shots with some pretty awful ones.