Coco Gauff grades her march into Australian Open semis a 'C' — 'Match was error-strewn'

Coco Gauff, the United States Open champion, won her way into the semi-finals of the Australian Open on Tuesday, but she gave herself a 'C' rating for her performance, which she described as error-strewn.

The American player, who is currently ranked fourth in the world, had a tough match against Ukraine's unseeded Marta Kostyuk but eventually emerged victorious with a 7-6, 6-7, 6-2 win.

Gauff will now face either defending champion Aryna Sabalenka or ninth-seeded Barbora Krejcikova in the semi-finals on Thursday.

Despite her win, Gauff was critical of her performance, admitting that she struggled on serve and missed several opportunities, hitting just 17 winners.

"I think today was definitely a 'C' game, so didn't play my best tennis but really proud that I was able to get through today's match," said the 19-year-old tennis pro.

"Hopefully got the bad match out of the way and I can play even better."

Both players were responsible for the low-quality contest, with an incredible 16 service breaks throughout the match, and the pair racked up 107 unforced errors between them, AFP reported.

"I was just trying to get one more game in the first set and at least make it competitive and then one game turned to another and I was able to win that set," said the American.

She credited what she had learned in winning the US Open last year with helping her "problem solve" in key moments.

"It was really important. Today was frustrating because I knew how I needed to play, I just couldn't execute," said Gauff. "But, yeah, problem-solving is tennis. You know, you could play someone today and maybe a week later they'll play you completely different," she added.

"It's a part of it. At the end of the day you're given a scouting report but you have to go with feeling and try your best to win. That's what I did today."