Morning star

The sun will rise in Portland at 5:23 this morning. Less than an hour later, Cori "Coco" Gauff of the United States will be playing in the women's singles championship match of the annual French Open tennis tournament, named after Roland Garros and held on red clay courts in Paris. Gauff is 18 years old and graduated from high school earlier this week.

If she wins, I'll be clicking my heels, but if she loses, I won't be crying too hard. Her opponent, and the heavy favorite, is Iga Swiatek from Poland. She turned 21 on Tuesday. Swiatek hasn't lost a match since February, and she won the Covid-rescheduled French Open in September of 2020.

I'd be okay with Poland taking the title, for several reasons, some obvious. But go, Coco! 

That said, I'm not up for the early morning match time, and so I'll have to record the action, catch it later (Comcast tech gremlins willing), and hope for no spoilers in between.

Gauff is also in the women's doubles finals in the wee small hours of tomorrow, our time. She and her American teammate, Jessica Pegula, will face the 2016 champions from France, Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic. That one starts at 2 a.m. overnight Saturday night/Sunday morning.

Watch doubles? And at 2 a.m.? It's not likely. But possible.