Coco Gauff held her nerve to edge out Mirra Andreeva in straight sets at the Italian Open on Tuesday to reach the tournament’s semi-finals for the third time in her career.
The world No.3 fought her way to a 6-4, 7-6(5), win over Andreeva in what was a battle between the two youngest players currently in the top 10 on the WTA Tour. 21-year-old Gauff is three years older than her opponent. Gauff now leads her rival 4-0 in their head-to-head and it is the second tournament in a row she has beaten her after Madrid. She has only dropped one set so far in their rivalry.
However, their latest meeting was a closely fought contest with seven breaks of serve occurring – three for Gauff and four for Andreeva. At one stage in the match, Gauff broke three times in a row to move ahead 6-4, 2-0, before her rival battled back to draw level.
Midway through the second set, Andreeva was a break up but failed to keep hold of her lead. Resulting in a roller-coaster tiebreak which saw Gauff close out the match on her first opportunity by hitting a slice forehand that triggered an Andreeva unforced error.
“At the end, my defense was tough,” Gauff said during her on-court interview.
“I think we’re both kind of tight in that tiebreaker. So I was just whoever could make one more ball on the court.”
The roller-coaster match saw Gauff hit 22 winners against 23 unforced errors, which was a more even ratio than that of Andreeva, who produced 23 against 47.
Third seed Gauff is bidding to reach the final in Rome for the first time in her career. The last two times she made it through to the semi-finals in 2021 and 2024, she was beaten by Iga Swiatek. According to OptaAce, only four female players have reached the last four in Rome on three separate occasions at a younger age than Gauff. They are Monica Seles (18), Martina Hingis (18), Gabriela Sabatini (19) and Chris Evert (20).
Gauff could next play world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in what would be a repeat of the Madrid final that took place earlier this month. Sabalenka will play China’s Qinwen Zheng later today.
“I have a lot of confidence heading in (to the semi-finals),” said Gauff.
“I think today maybe some points weren’t my best but I still managed to be successful.”
Gauff is bidding to become the first American woman to win the title since Serena Williams in 2016.
