Coco Gauff Advances to US Open Semifinals After Thrilling Comeback

Coco Gauff walked into Arthur Ashe Stadium as the defending US Open champion. For a set and a half, Mirra Andreeva made her look anything but.

Down a set, down in the rallies, and staring at two match points, the American looked on the brink of a brutal exit in New York. She walked off the court a semifinalist.

Gauff beat fifth seed Andreeva 2–6, 7–6 (9–7), 6–2 in a wild quarterfinal that swung from one-sided to unforgettable.

Andreeva’s blistering start

Andreeva came out like a player intent on a statement. She took the first four games, snapping up the opener 6–2 and silencing a crowd that had arrived expecting a Gauff procession.

The numbers told the story. Gauff did not create a single break point in that first set. Her timing was off, her forehand misfiring. She racked up 14 unforced errors to Andreeva’s five, and the Russian barely had to do more than play solid, disciplined tennis to punish every short ball.

Gauff looked rushed. Andreeva looked in control.

A tiebreak that changed everything

The second set broke open into a scrap. Both players tightened and then cracked, exchanging breaks twice as the tension climbed with every game.

Gauff still could not pull away. Andreeva still would not back off.

The set marched to a tiebreak, and that was where the match turned into a test of nerve as much as skill. Gauff produced one of the points of the tournament, winning a 39-shot rally with a clean, bold backhand that drew a roar from the stands and a fist pump from the American.

Even then, she was not safe. Andreeva earned two match points, standing within a swing or two of her first US Open semifinal and the scalp of the reigning champion. Gauff stared them down, saved both, and edged the breaker 9–7.

The stadium erupted. The defending champion had survived. Just.

Gauff seizes control

Once she escaped, Gauff took charge.

In the deciding set, she broke Andreeva in the third game, finally carving out the kind of scoreboard cushion that had eluded her all afternoon. The Russian’s level dipped, her serve wobbling under the weight of missed chances.

Gauff sensed it and pounced. She broke to love in the seventh game, ripping through points with the aggression that had been missing early on. A final forehand sealed the comeback, and with it a place in the last four.

From 2–6 and match points down to a 6–2 decider. A champion’s escape.

Rybakina awaits

The challenge only grows from here. In the semifinals, Gauff will face second seed Elena Rybakina, one of the cleanest ball-strikers in the game and a major champion with her own ambitions in New York.

Gauff has already shown she can bend a match to her will when the pressure peaks. Against Rybakina, she may need to do it from the very first ball.