Coco Gauff Survives Match Points to Reach US Open Semifinals
Coco Gauff walks New York’s tightrope again. This time, she didn’t just flirt with the edge – she stared straight down, saved two match points, and roared back to reach the US Open semifinals.
The defending champion survived a stunning challenge from fifth seed Mirra Andreeva, turning a flat, error-strewn start into a 2–6, 7–6 (9–7), 6–2 victory that felt as much about nerve as it did about shot-making.
Andreeva storms out, Gauff disappears
From the first ball, it was Andreeva dictating. The Russian teenager ripped through the opening games, racing to a 4–0 lead while Gauff searched for any kind of rhythm. The American never saw a break point in that first set. Not one.
The numbers told the story. Andreeva kept it relatively clean with five unforced errors. Gauff sprayed 14. Her forehand misfired, her timing deserted her, and the defending champion looked oddly subdued under the New York lights. The set was gone 6–2, and quickly.
A brutal second set and a 39-shot turning point
The second set turned into a scrap. Both players tightened on serve, then cracked. They traded breaks twice, neither able to hold momentum for long. Each time Gauff seemed to settle, Andreeva punched back. Each time Andreeva surged, Gauff hung on.
Then came the tiebreak, and with it the kind of drama that defines a tournament.
Andreeva earned two match points. The stadium braced for an upset. Gauff refused to blink.
On one of the key points, they dug into a lung-burning 39-shot rally, the kind of exchange that drags every ounce of belief out of a player. Gauff ended it with a precise backhand, threading the ball into the corner and ripping the air with a cathartic release. She clawed back from the brink, erased both match points, and stole the tiebreak 9–7.
The match flipped right there.
Champion’s response in the decider
Once the third set began, the defending champion finally played like one.
Gauff broke Andreeva in the third game, pouncing on shorter balls and stepping inside the baseline. The pressure mounted. The Russian’s level dipped. Gauff sensed it and accelerated.
At 4–2, she struck again. A break to love in the seventh game underlined the shift in authority – Gauff now dictating, Andreeva chasing. The American closed the door with a forehand winner, sealing the comeback and the match, 6–2 in the decider.
From a set and match points down to a place in the last four. New York has seen this script before, but it never loses its edge.
Rybakina awaits
Standing between Gauff and a return to the US Open final is second seed Elena Rybakina, one of the game’s cleanest ball-strikers and most imposing servers.
Gauff arrives battle-hardened, tested to the limit by Andreeva. Rybakina arrives as a benchmark of power and precision.
One saved match point can define a fortnight. Gauff has already erased two. How many more lives does her title defense have left?
