Coco rides more twists than Love Island

All those corny, crass, cringeworthy, cliched, carefully scripted reality TV shows have nothing on sport.

Coco Gauff after beating Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk in their quarter-final. Picture: AFP

All those corny, crass, cringeworthy, cliched, carefully scripted reality TV shows have nothing on sport. The Australian Open quarter-final between Coco Gauff and Marta Kostyuk bubbled and frothed with more mood swings, plot twists, momentum shifts and tension than you get in an entire season of Love Island or I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!

Kostyuk was one of the mega-passionate Ukrainian women trying to win the Open for her battle-scarred country.

Gauff, 19, is the American who lived her teenage dream by claiming last year’s US Open.

Kostyuk swung wildly between playing excellent, enigmatic tennis and suffering complete emotional breakdowns.

Gauff played terribly, by her standards, but won 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (3-7) 6-2 in front of a Rod Laver Arena audience that didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or seek a stiff drink.

“Hopefully got my bad match out of the way,” Gauff said. “Really proud of the fight I showed.”

“Marta is a tough opponent … I really fought and left it all on the court today.”

Kostyuk received endless instructions from her impassioned entourage. Go to the forehand at all times! Stay present! You’re right here! Intensity with the feet! Be aggressive but don’t rush! Attack but be patient!

Only real-life advice was missing. Eat your greens! Be good to your mother! She threw her racquet in frustration. Screamed at herself. “I’m so stupid! I’m so stupid! It’s unbelievable!” Then fought on. Compelling drama, pure entertainment.

“It’s tennis,” she grinned afterwards.

The third set seemed certain to be love island. Kostyuk staged a mini-comeback from 5-0 but ran out of puff.

Kostyuk during her epic match against Gauff. Picture: Getty Images

She’s an engaging, talkative, starry-eyed character off the court. Showed resolve in refusing to concede defeat but in the end, it was all too much for her.

Trying to reach her first major semi-final, trying to win for Ukraine, trying to control her temperament, all of it.

Gauff celebrated with a double-fist pump. She roared a prolonged yeeees! The rollercoaster encounter wasn’t the finest tennis match you’d ever see but it was like instant coffee in a styrofoam cup at a shonky roadside diner. So bad it’s great.

She will face either defending champion and second seed Aryna Sabalenka or ninth-seeded Barbora Krejcikova tomorrow for a place in the final.

Gauff and Kostyuk made a combined 107 unforced errors. The frazzled fixture lasted three hours and eight minutes.

You couldn’t have handled three hours and nine minutes of it. I could have sworn Kostyuk would collapse in a screaming heap after match point but she grinned, as if pleased it was over.

“It’s just a tennis match,” said the 21-year-old. “I’m here to grow, to learn and be better. Very proud of myself. I won for myself today. Moving on.

“It was painful … I was just thinking how I’m not going to be able to fall asleep for a couple of days probably … but for me it’s a win because I was playing one of the best girls in the world and managed to be very close.”

Ukraine’s last singles player, Dayana Yastremska, faces Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova today. A win during wartime has been a driving ambition.

“I think if someone would have told us, like, one month after the war began that this would last for two years, I think everyone would just die,” Kostyuk said.

“Literally just say, ‘no, will we never withstand it. We will never survive this for two years’. It’s very exhausting to live in this state, you know. Sport has always brought a lot of joy and happiness for people, regardless of times. I don’t think it has changed.

“I think it’s the same. I got a lot of support from people who have been telling me, ‘wow, what a great tournament. Such emotions. What a fight. What fighting spirit’. It’s good for people to look at something different than missile shellings.”

Gauff’s a celebrity. Got herself into the semi-finals. On her coaching staff is Brad Gilbert, the godfather of winning ugly. He would have loved this. All three hours and eight minutes of it.