Coco Gauff beat China’s world number 49 Yuan Yue 6-4 6-3 after 94 minutes to reach the semifinals at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells for the first time in her career.
Gauff reached the third round in 2022 and the quarter finals in 2023 in her first two appearances at Indian Wells.
Gauff, who turned 20 years old on Wednesday, has become the youngest US player to reach the semifinals at Indian Wells since Serena Williams in 2021.
Gauff set up a semifinal clash against 2022 Indian Wells finalist Maria Sakkari, who came back from one set down to beat US Emma Navarro 5-7 6-2 6-4.
Yuan came into the Indian Wells quarter finals with a winning streak of nine consecutive matches. The Chinese player claimed her first WTA title in Austin before Indian Wells and beat Zheng Qinwen and Daria Kasatkina in the first two rounds of the WTA 1000 tournament in the Californian desert.
Gauff made 17 double faults in 10 service games, but she saved seven of the ten break points she faced. The 2023 US Open champion broke Yuan five times.
Yuan earned the first break at 15 in the opening game, but Gauff broke straight back at love in the second game to draw level to 1-1 and held serve at love in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. Yuan saved a break point in the fourth game to hold serve at deuce for 2-2. Gauff broke serve at deuce in the sixth game and held serve at deuce to race out to a 5-2 after saving a break point in the seventh game. Gauff was broken when she was serving for the first set after hitting three double faults in the ninth game. However, Gauff broke for the third time in the 10th game to close out the first set 6-4.
Gauff dropped her serve in the first game of the second set. Yuan held her next two service games to open up a 3-1 lead and earned three more break points for 4-1 in the fifth game. Gauff held a four-deuce service game before winning the final four games with two breaks of serve to seal the win on her second match point.
Gauff has reached her fifth WTA 1000 semifinal after achieving this feat in Rome in 2021, Dubai and Beijing and Cincinnati in 2023. Gauff won her first WTA 1000 title in Cincinnati beating Karolina Muchova in the final.
Gauff is only the third player to reach five WTA 1000 semifinals before turning 21 along with Caroline Wozniacki and Iga Swiatek. “I am really happy to be through today’s match. It was not the best style of the serving, but overall I think when it comes to the groundstoke game and returns, everything else, honestly, I played well. I will just try and take the positives into the next match”, said Gauff.
