Coco Gauff: American Coco Gauff rallies to defeat Aryna Sabalenka in dramatic finish

I feel like I’m in shock at this moment,” said an emotional Gauff after her win. “God puts you through tribulations and trials, and that makes this moment sweeter than I would have imagined.

After the match, the 19-year-old American fell to the ground and lay on her back on the court before sobbing in celebration. After hugging Sabalenka, Gauff ran up the stairs to tearfully hug her parents and then the rest of her team.

Gauff set aside a so-so start and surged to her first major championship by coming back to defeat Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the U.S. Open final on Saturday, delighting a raucous crowd that was loud from start to finish.

The support I have gotten is incredible,” Gauff said. “Obviously from President Obama and former first lady Michelle is crazy that they were here my first-round match, and now I’m a different person now.

Gauff is the 10th teenager to win the US Open women’s title all-time and the first American teenager to be crowned at her home major since Serena Williams won as a 17-year-old in 1999.

The 19-year-old unusual mettle after finding herself down a set to a player who is technically the world’s best. Commentator Cliff Drysdale said it looked at that point like Sabalenka was “going to roll over her.

Gauff’s upset win at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows, New York City, etches her name into the history books alongside other Black American women’s tennis icons like Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Althea Gibson.