Coco Gauff managed to fend off two match points and pull off a three‑set triumph over teenage French Open champion Mirra Andreeva, earning a place in the US Open semifinals where she will meet the freshly crowned world No.1, Elena Rybakina. The match began disastrously for the 2023 champion, whose serve and forehand fell apart in the opening set. Gauff could muster only three winners while committing fourteen unforced errors, and she dropped the first set in a swift 26‑minute burst, 2‑6.
The second set saw a marked improvement in Gauff's play. She tightened her serve, found her rhythm on the groundstrokes, and forced a tiebreak. During the breaker, Andreeva, the fifth‑seeded Russian, missed two crucial opportunities to close out the match, allowing Gauff to level the score. Frustrated by the missed chances, Andreeva threw her racket toward her chair, unintentionally sending it careening toward a nearby camera operator, who had to dive out of the way.
The incident seemed to sap Andreeva’s composure, and Gauff capitalized, eventually sealing the set 7‑6(7) and cruising through the third with a 6‑2 finish. After the victory, Gauff explained that she drew inspiration from a fellow American’s recent comeback. "I just had to reset," she said.
"At the start of the second set I wasn’t feeling the ball and gave her too many free points. After the first set I went to the restroom and thought about Frances Tiafoe’s comeback yesterday.
We all want to perform well for this crowd. I tried to leave the court with no regrets, not knowing what the outcome would be. You guys really helped pull me through." Former French Open champion Marion Bartoli, speaking for Sky Sports Tennis, praised Gauff’s resilience: "That was pure heart, finding a way regardless of the level.
It doesn’t matter how you’re playing; you have to find a way on the day. She’s the one in tomorrow’s semifinal. If she wins the US Open, nobody will remember the level she showed in the quarters.
Coco Gauff is one of the few players capable of pulling off a match like that." Tim Henman, also with Sky Sports, added his perspective: "It was amazing to watch because you had two brilliant players capable of spectacular tennis, yet serving issues and errors made them tense. The ball speed dropped, but that’s the beauty of tennis – you have to keep the ball in play and cut out unforced errors. It will be a tough defeat for Andreeva to process after having match points in the second set, but she will learn a lot and will be deeply disappointed." Earlier in the day, Elena Rybakina secured the world No.1 ranking by defeating Qinwen Zheng and booking her spot in the semifinals. The 27‑year‑old from Kazakhstan will overtake Aryna Sabalenka, ending Sabalenka’s 99‑week reign at the top of the rankings on Monday.
Rybakina, who captured the Australian Open title earlier in the year, has been chasing Sabalenka all season and will claim the No.1 spot for the first time in her career even if the Belarusian wins a third consecutive US Open title. Rybakina, speaking after her quarterfinal win, downplayed the significance of the ranking number: "It’s just a number right now. I’m only in the semifinals and my goal is to win every tournament I play. I just need to focus on my game and enjoy tomorrow." She dropped a set for the first time this fortnight but rebounded strongly in the second.
Zheng, after an exhausting run of three qualifying matches and five main‑draw matches totalling nearly twelve hours on court, finally showed fatigue in the deciding set, allowing Rybakina to prevail 3‑6, 6‑1, 6‑4. Rybakina reflected on the hard‑fought victory: "It’s tough to find words.
It was a very difficult match, a lot of nerves, maybe not the highest level but I’m glad I pushed through. I didn’t start well, I was too negative, made many unforced errors, but I told myself to keep fighting." Zheng, who had been enjoying an Emma Raducanu‑style surge in New York, saw her run end despite a promising performance. The 23‑year‑old from China is now on the cusp of re‑entering the top 50 after slipping to 121 following elbow surgery. Henman also praised Rybakina’s resilience: "It turned out to be a very good performance.
It wasn’t the best start for Rybakina; Zheng contributed to that, but the way she responded in the second and third sets was impressive. She became more aggressive from the back of the court, and in that tight third set she really showed her class." The upcoming semifinal promises a clash of contrasting styles: Gauff’s aggressive baseline play and youthful tenacity against Rybakina’s powerful serve‑and‑volley game and newfound confidence as world No.1.
Both players have demonstrated the mental fortitude required to navigate the pressures of a Grand Slam stage, and their encounter will likely be a showcase of high‑stakes tennis, where every point can swing momentum dramatically. Fans can catch the live action on Sky Sports beginning August 30, with streaming options available on NOW and the Sky Sports App, and the Laver Cup will also be broadcast from The O2 in London later in September.