Coco Gauff saved two match points on her way to a three-set victory over teenage French Open winner Mirra Andreeva which set up a semi-final showdown with newly-crowned world No 1 Elena Rybakina. It was a horrible start for 2023 champion Gauff, whose serve and forehand deserted her as she lost the first set in just 26 minutes, hitting only three winners and making 14 unforced errors. She improved in the second which culminated in a tie-break, during which Russian fifth seed Andreeva squandered two chances to take the match.
That broke Andreeva's spirit and she risked being defaulted after hurling her racket towards her chair, inadvertently sending it spinning towards a camera operator who had to dodge out of the way. Gauff eventually won 2-6 7-6 (7) 6-2 and revealed she took inspiration from a fellow American's comeback on Tuesday. "I just had to reset," Gauff said.
"I came out at the start, not feeling the ball, giving her too many free points. "Mirra was playing a great level, but when I went to the restroom after the first set, honestly I was thinking about Frances Tiafoe and how he came back yesterday. "We all want to do well in front of this crowd.
I was trying to leave the court with no regrets, I didn't know what outcome would come. You guys really helped pull me through." "That was just pure heart to find a way, somehow. It doesn't really matter the level, you just have to find a way on the day.
"She's the one tomorrow in the semi-final of the US Open. If she wins the US Open, no one will remember her level here in the quarters. "Coco Gauff is one of the only players in the world capable of winning a match like that." "It was amazing to watch, because you've got two brilliant players capable of playing some amazing tennis who through serving issues and errors became so tight and so nervous.
"The ball speed deteriorated, and went down and down. But that's the beauty of tennis. It's about keeping the ball on the island and cutting out unforced errors.
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