Coco Gauff left in TEARS after furious row with umpire during French Open semi-final defeat to World No1 Iga Swiatek

Coco Gauff says it is 'ridiculous' that tennis does not have a video review system, after an on-court argument with the umpire during her 6-2, 6-4 defeat to Iga Swiatek in the French Open semi-finals.

The Polish world No. 1 will go for her third title in a row here at Roland Garros on Saturday against Italy's Jasmine Paolini, who beat 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 6-1.

For 20-year-old Gauff it was an afternoon of frustration and fury in Paris. The flashpoint came as Gauff was trying to claw her way back into the match, leading 2-1 in the second set on the Swiatek serve.

Swiatek's second serve was called out just as Gauff hit her return long. But when the umpire overruled the call and awarded the point to Swiatek, Gauff furiously insisted that she hit her return after the ball had already been called out, and so the point should have been replayed.

Asked by Mail Sport after the match whether tennis should look to introduce a video review system to re-evaluate close decisions such as this, Gauff was adamant.

'One hundred per cent,' she said. 'I think tennis is the only sport where not only we don't have the VR system, but a lot of times the decisions are made by one person. In other sports there's usually multiple refs making a decision.

'I definitely think at this point it's almost ridiculous that we don't have it. Not speaking because that happened to me, but I just think every sport has it. Also, there are so many decisions that are made, and it sucks as a player to go back or online and you see that you were completely right, and it's, like, what does that give you in that moment?

'I definitely think as a sport we have to evolve, and we have the technology. They're showing it on TV, so I don't get why the player can't see it.'

The argument on court with umpire Aurelie Tourte left Gauff wiping away tears. 'He called it and then I hit it. I'm a thousand per cent sure,' said the American.

'For me it did not affect your shot,' replied Tourte.

'If he called it before I hit it, I stop my reaction. I didn't even finish my follow-through. He called it before I hit it. Will you ask him?'

'No, we cannot ask him.'

The crowd were booing enthusiastically at this point – a Pavlovian reaction from the fans here whenever any incident occurs.

'They're booing because you're wrong,' said Gauff.

'For me it did not affect the shot.'

'You're wrong. It's the second time that happened. You should be ashamed. It's a grand slam semi-final, know the rules of the game.'

So, who was right? Replays suggest the call happened at the same instant as Gauff played her return. That makes it marginal and very harsh of Tourte not to have given Gauff the benefit of the doubt.

Gauff did end up breaking in that game for a 3-1 lead but Swiatek won the next four games in a row and served out a comfortable win.

Their head to head now reads 11-1 in the Pole's favour and on this evidence it is difficult to see Gauff improving that any time soon.

The problem in a one-on-one sport like tennis is that when a player's natural game matches up so poorly against another, they are forced to go outside their comfort zone and that can almost shift the match up even further the other way.

Both these players like to rally and run, wearing their opponents down with controlled aggression. And Gauff is better at that style of play than any other player in the world – with one unfortunate exception.

So Gauff came out here and tried to blast Swiatek off the Philippe Chatrier court – as Naomi Osaka so nearly did in the second round. But that was Osaka playing her natural game; this was Gauff overreaching.

The first two points of the match saw her blast two forehands well long and that was sadly predictive of the rest of the set.

The result was that Swiatek was able to settle into don't miss mode and wait for her opponent to hand her the set. The 23-year-old ended the first set with two winners, four forced errors and five unforced – surely the first time she has won a set 6-2 with such modest statistics. Gauff had 12 winners but 11 forced and 18 unforced errors.

Of the 31 points Swiatek required to take the first set, 29 were courtesy of Gauff errors.

Gauff improved in the second set. She was more selective in her aggression and focused more on depth than power, pinning Swiatek back at times. But the unforced error count was still far too high and the match ended, as it had begun, with a Gauff forehand ballooning long.

So Swiatek marches on towards what everyone expects will be a fourth French Open title in five years. Paolini is a gutsy and consistent player and has risen from outside the world's top 50 this time last year into the top 10. 

But, just like Gauff, she lacks the heavy artillery to penetrate the forcefield that seems to envelop Swiatek every time she sets foot on this court.