Gauff survives Andreeva marathon to reach third straight Rome semi-final
Coco Gauff (No 3) reached a third straight Rome semi-final the hard way, beating Mirra Andreeva (No 6) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 after surrendering a 5-1 lead in the decider and needing six match points to close it out. Three matches in Rome, three wins from a set down. Sorana Cirstea waits in the semis.
Coco Gauff, Rome 2026 | © PsNewz
Coco Gauff reached a third consecutive Rome WTA 1000 semi-final with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over No. 6 seed Mirra Andreeva in the quarter-finals on Campo Centrale, the No. 3 seed needing two hours and 20 minutes and six match points to close out a contest that swung six times each way in the final game.
Andreeva, 18, took the opening set 6-4 after the two players traded breaks through a scrappy middle section to 3-3. From there, the Russian shifted up. She broke Gauff and then held to love three times in a row, conceding almost nothing in the closing stretch to take the set.
Gauff levelled the match in a much cleaner second. Breaking Andreeva in the second game, she never relinquished the lead, saved two break points on her own serve, then broke again at 5-2 to seal it 6-2. The Russian had no answer to Gauff’s aggression on return.
For most of the third, the match looked decided. Gauff broke Andreeva three times in a row to lead 5-1, then earned a match point at 5-2 and another at 5-3. Andreeva refused to go quietly. The Russian saved both, broke back, held, and broke again to climb to 5-4.
Gauff won the Marathon
The marathon final game on Andreeva’s serve stretched through four match points for Gauff and four chances for the Russian to level at 5-5. Gauff finally converted on her sixth match point of the set, off a Andreeva backhand error.
It is Gauff’s fourth Rome semi-final and a perfect 5-0 record against Andreeva. It is also her 35th career top-10 win – her second of 2026 – and the third match in a row in Rome that she has won from a set down.
The 21-year-old American will face Sorana Cirstea in the semi-finals, the Romanian veteran a winner over Jeļena Ostapenko in the round of 16 and herself bidding to reach a first Rome final at 36.
