The Tiafoe mode: Gauff saves two match points to reach her first US Open semifinal since the title
Coco Gauff (No. 4) saved two match points and beat Mirra Andreeva (No. 5) 2-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the US Open 2026 to reach her first semifinal in New York since her title run in 2023. It was her 11th consecutive win, her 46th of the season and her seventh Grand Slam semifinal. She next plays new world No. 1 Elena Rybakina.
Coco Gauff, US Open 2026 | © Juergen Hasenkopf/Psnewz
Coco Gauff was twice one point from the end of her tournament in a second-set tie-break and won ten of the last twelve games instead, the American No. 4 seed beating Russian No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva 2-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2 on Wednesday evening in New York to reach the US Open semifinals for the first time since she won the title in 2023.
On court, answering Chris Eubanks’ questions, she said : “I was thinking about Frances Tiafoe and how he came back yesterday.”
The win was Gauff’s 11th in a row and her 46th of the season, and it takes her to a seventh Grand Slam semifinal. Among active players, only Venus Williams with 12 and Serena Williams with 10 have reached more before turning 23. She is 6-0 against Andreeva, and she has still never lost a Grand Slam match to a younger opponent, a record now at seven after beating Iva Jovic in the previous round.
For the first time at a Grand Slam since Wimbledon in 2009, the women’s semifinals are made up of the top four seeds. Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff are No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4; seventeen years ago it was Dinara Safina, Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Elena Dementieva.
Not a clean evening
It was not a clean evening for either of them. Gauff served 12 double faults and won 38% of the points behind her second serve, and both players made exactly 42 unforced errors. What separated them was the forecourt: Gauff came in 28 times and won 19 of those points, while Andreeva won six of her 17 approaches.
Andreeva had seen it coming, saying on Monday that she had watched Gauff going to the net more and playing more aggressively earlier in the tournament.
Andreeva, the Roland-Garros champion, was in her first US Open quarterfinal and her first at a hard-court major. She had reached it past Indonesian Janice Tjen 6-2, 6-2, German Eva Lys 6-0, 6-2, Czech Nikola Bartunkova 6-2, 7-6 (5) and Austrian No. 24 seed Anastasia Potapova 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. All four of her career defeats at this tournament have now come against Americans.
Gauff had arrived in the last eight past Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez 6-3, 6-4, Spain’s Cristina Bucsa 6-3, 6-4, Spain’s Paula Badosa 6-4, 7-6 (5) and American No. 14 seed Jovic 6-1, 6-4.
US Open 2026, men’s singles quarter finals
A. Sabalenka [1] d. L. Noskova [6]: 7-6(1), 3-6, 7-6(7)
J. Pegula [3] d. E. Navarro [26]: 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
C. Gauff [4] d. M. Andreeva [5]: 2-6, 7-6(7), 6-2
Q. Zheng (Q) d. E. Rybakina [2]: 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
