Police officers escort a barefooted protester from the stands throughout a match between Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova within the girls’s singles semifinals of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, in New York.

John Minchillo/AP

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John Minchillo/AP

Police officers escort a barefooted protester from the stands throughout a match between Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova within the girls’s singles semifinals of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, in New York.

John Minchillo/AP

NEW YORK — The U.S. Open semifinal between Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova was delayed by 50 minutes due to a disruption by 4 environmental activists within the Arthur Ashe Stadium stands on Thursday evening. One protester glued his naked toes to the concrete ground.

Gauff, who went on to win 6-4, 7-5, was forward 6-4, 1-0 when play was halted early within the second set. Security guards and, later, greater than a half-dozen law enforcement officials went over to confront the three protesters, who had been sporting shirts that learn, “End Fossil Fuels.” Two of the activists had been escorted out inside a number of minutes, however it took longer to take away the one who caught his toes to the bottom.

Security guards and, later, greater than a half-dozen law enforcement officials went over to confront the protesters, who had been sporting shirts that learn, “End Fossil Fuels.”

The U.S. Tennis Association stated three of the protesters had been escorted out of the stadium with out additional incident, however it took longer to take away the one who caught his toes to the bottom.

The USTA added that NYPD and medical personnel had been wanted to be able to safely take away that individual and that each one 4 had been taken into police custody.

Spectators had been requested to maneuver away to clear a path for the police, who had been cheered by followers sitting close to the part the place the disruption occurred.

Gauff sat on her sideline bench for a bit through the break within the match, consuming fruit out of a plastic container, earlier than then getting some tennis balls and hitting a couple of observe serves. Muchova was briefly visited by a coach through the interruption.

Later, each gamers headed towards the locker room because the delay continued. Gauff sat on a treadmill, a towel draped over her lap, whereas chatting with members of her workforce.

It is the most recent in a latest collection of protests at sporting occasions — and tennis, specifically — associated to the usage of fossil fuels.

At Wimbledon in July, two matches had been interrupted when environmental activists jumped out of the stands at Court 18 and scattered orange confetti on the grass.

At a U.S. Open tune-up event in Washington final month, a couple of dozen individuals had been requested to go away the positioning after chanting and displaying indicators protesting the usage of fossil fuels.

Gauff, a 19-year-old American, and Muchova, a 27-year-old from the Czech Republic, had been each enjoying within the semifinals at Flushing Meadows for the primary time.

Their match was the primary of the night. The different girls’s semifinal, between Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and Madison Keys of the United States, was scheduled to start after Gauff vs. Muchova completed.

Gauff will play the winner of that match for the ladies’s singles championship in Ashe on Saturday.