Coco Gauff and her dream of winning an Olympic gold medal came to an end after her 6-7, 2-6 third round loss to Croatia’s Donna Vekic on Tuesday.
It looked like the 20-year-old American star was going to cruise into the quarter-finals after going up 4-1 in the opening set.
Vekic however fought back and forced a tie-break which she won 9-7.
Things did not get better for Gauff from there as an argument ensued with the chair umpire in the sixth game of the second and deciding set, which the reigning US Open champion did not recover from as the match lasted for two hours.
Last 🎱
Donna Vekic defeats Coco Gauff in straight sets to advance to the quarter-finals.#Paris2024 | #Olympics | #tennis pic.twitter.com/8xe6Ebo2uT
— ITF (@ITFTennis) July 30, 2024
It marked the first time Gauff dropped a set in Paris after her straight sets victories over Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic and Argentina’s Maria Lourdes Carle in the first and second round respectively.
Vekic will face Marta Kostyuk in the quarter-finals after the Ukrainian defeated Greek seventh seed Maria Sakkari in three sets 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
Gauff teamed up with Taylor Fritz in the mixed doubles later in the day and defeated the Argentine pair of Nadia Pordoska and Maximo Gonzalez 6-1, 6-7 (6-8), 10-5.
Coming out on top 🔝 🦅
🇺🇸 Americans Taylor Fritz and Coco Gauff defeat Gonzalez and Podoroska 6-1, 6-7(6), 10-5 💪 #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/BD7sPwOHIB
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) July 30, 2024
She will be in action on Wednesday with Jessica Pegula when they take on the Czech duo of Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova in the women’s doubles.
