Coco Gauff imploded in her French Open 2021 quarterfinal match against Barbora Krejcikova. After failing to convert several opportunities in the first set, she was being dominated in the second set by Krejcikova. Subsequently, in utter frustration, Gauff broke her racquet and received a code violation.

Gauff had five set points in the entirety of the first set; however, she failed to convert any. First, she led 3-0 in the first set and later was serving for the set at 5-3, but she gave away her advantage. As the set went into the tie-break, Gauff saw more set point opportunities but failed as Krejcikova took her chances to win the tiebreaker, 8-6, and the set, 7-6.

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Coco Gauff failed to convert set points in the first set

Having lost the set, Gauff was in turmoil and was rapidly losing her way. In no time, she was two breaks down, and at 4-0, broke her racquet in frustration for the first time in her career. As the racquet shattered, she was given a code violation for racquet abuse.

Being 4-0 down, there was visible tension in Gauff. She is only 17 and dropping that first set really hurt her confidence in the second set. Krejcikova didn’t have to do much in the second set as Gauff’s unforced error count rose significantly. Neither was Gauff returning as cleanly as she had done in the first set.

Alarm bells started ringing when Gauff gave up a 40-15 advantage on her serve at 1-0. From there Krejcikova won 12 points in a row, to break Coco twice and register a 4-0 lead in the second set.

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