Tauson puts personal stamp on Lyon semifinal

Danish teen Clara Tauson has cut a unique figure at the Open 6ème Sens Métropole de Lyon. The 2019 junior Australian Open champion has yet to drop a set all week, outhitting top seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, Timea Babos, and Camila Giorgi to reach her first WTA semifinal.

“I’ve been playing better, serving better especially, but the more matches I play, the better I get,” she said on Friday after the 6-3, 6-1 win over Giorgi. “The better players I play, the better I play, as well. I try to focus on myself but when you’re playing Top 100 players, it’s more difficult and different. You have to be so much more focused because you never know when they’re going to come back and play better than you.”

But Tauson, who trains at the Justine Henin Academy with coach Olivier Jeunehomme, hasn’t been the only talented teen to make waves in Lyon. Oddly enough, she wasn’t even the only talented teen named Clara.

Clara Burel (Getty Images)

French wildcard Clara Burel nearly joined her namesake in the final four when she took the first set from No. 2 seed Fiona Ferro, only to bow out to her countrywoman in three. Burel first grabbed headlines at home last fall when she reached the third round of Roland Garros, and played juniors with Tauson.

“I know Clara really well,” Tauson said after her second-round win. “We’ve played a lot of the same tournaments, and I think we want to show that we can go out there against the—I don’t want to say older women. It’s really nice for when some of the girls are the same age, and it’s not as scary. You come here and the players are Top 50 and you’ve never really played those kinds of players before. It’s really fun that we’re both doing good here and hopefully we can continue to do so.”

Younger than Burel by 21 months, Tauson also impressed on the terre battue when she stunned Jennifer Brady in the first round. Daughter to a handball-playing mother and an ice hockey-playing father, athleticism is in her genes.

“I think it’s more my personality, because I don’t like to be too passive or to let the other person decide. I want to be the one deciding. Everything in my life, I want to be the one deciding what to do. It’s always been like this, and I’ve always had a love of going to the net and hitting drop shots. All of that, I think, is really fun, so I’ve been able to get it into my match game this week, and that has been really nice.”

Between Brady and Alexandrova, the 18-year-old is a cool 2-0 against the Top 50, and after months in the minor leagues is quickly acclimating to the major spotlight.

“I think my game is the kind that can help me get to the top level. On the ITF level, a lot of the best players are good counterpunchers who get me to play a lot of shots. Here, the players are going for their shots much more. They play more like how I try to play, so that’s definitely different when you’re seeing more mistakes because they’re trying to get that winner. I think it’s more fun playing these kinds of tournaments where everyone is going for their shots, the ball is coming fast, we play fast points. We played a couple of long points, but even those were fun!”

Clara Tauson (Getty Images)

Tauson is closing in on a Top 100 debut, and is currently riding a nine-match winning streak across all levels, including an ITF Pro Circuit title in Germany and two qualifying matches in Lyon. Despite the muted atmosphere of the fanless tournament, she can't help but quietly—figuratively and literally—enjoy her breakout week.

“I’m just adapting to the circumstances. I’m not trying to think too much about who is in the crowd. The few people that are there, are mostly players. It’s funny looking out to the stands and seeing [Kristina] Mladenovic or someone watching you. I’m trying to just be on the court and not too much outside the court; that’s too much information coming from the outside if you start thinking about who is there and who isn’t. I’m just trying to on the player in front of me, as well as myself.”

Mladenovic was a potential semifinal opponent for Tauson; instead, she’ll play No. 7 seed Paula Badosa, who shook off a disappointing second set that saw her miss out on three match points to break the former world No. 10 for a decisive victory in the third. Though she may still be new to the scene, the teenager keeps almost-encyclopedic tabs on her competition.

“I’ve watched tennis my whole life, whenever I’ve had the opportunity, on TV or YouTube. You can ask me anything. I know everything about all of the scores there is right now and before. It’s fun for me because I like watching tennis and knowing all the players and results. You’ll never find me in a difficult position if you ask me something about tennis. I know everything! My coach says I’m the Wikipedia of tennis results. I love watching tennis, playing tennis. I love the game.”

Tauson has already won All-Clara Competition; can she go even farther and capture her first WTA title?

“I definitely still have a lot of respect for the WTA players, but by now, I’m playing more and more matches against them. I feel more comfortable and I don’t come on the court scared, the way I may have used to feel.

“Before, I was just happy to play against them, but now I want to win, so that’s changed my mentality a lot, thinking I can beat these kinds of players on a regular basis. I haven’t done that yet, but I believe I can, and that’s a big part of it.”