Coco Gauff became the first American teenager since Serena Williams in 2001 to reach the semi-finals of the US Open.

The 19-year-old dropped just two games as she blitzed Jelena Ostapenko 6-0 6-2 inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Latvian Ostapenko, the 20th seed, had blown the women’s draw wide open when she knocked out defending champion and world number one Iga Swiatek in round four.

But she was unable to take advantage of her own handiwork as Gauff raced away with the first set in only 20 minutes.

Ostapenko made more of a contest of it in the second set, finally managing to hold serve at the fifth attempt.

But Gauff completed the job in an hour and eight minutes to reach the last four of her home grand slam for the first time.

“It feels great, I’m so happy,” she said. “Last year I lost in the quarter-finals and I wanted to do better. There’s a long way to go but I’m happy and ready to go back to work.

“Honestly, I didn’t feel comfortable the whole match, even on match point. I know the game she plays. It’s really tough against her – you can’t really be aggressive. She’s a top player and she’s had a great tournament.

 

“There’s a saying in basketball that ‘defence wins games’. It doesn’t always work in tennis but today that was the case.”

Gauff knows she still has a long way to go if she is to come even close to the achievements of Williams, who won six US Opens among her 23 grand slam titles.

She added: “Being in any sentence with her is great. I mean, she’s the greatest player of all time. You know, I’m nothing close to that yet. I’m just really honoured to be in the same sentence as her.

“It’s something that I’m used to a lot. I feel like a lot of the stats have aligned with her and people find new things to think about.

“I was the first teenager in the quarters and now semis, so I’m guessing if I win, they’re going to be, like, finals. It’s just going to keep going.

“I never take it for granted. She’s my idol. I think if you told me when I was younger that I would be in these same stat lines as her, I would freak out.

“I’m still trying not to think about it a lot, because I don’t want to get my head big or add pressure, but it is a cool moment to have that stat alongside her.”

Gauff will face Czech 10th seed Karolina Muchova, who beat Sorana Cirstea 6-0 6-3 in the night match.

“Obviously, she is an amazing player. She has the home crowd here,” Muchova said.

“It’s going to be very tough. I’m trying to enjoy this win, then I’ll try to put up a fight against Coco.”