Coco Gauff did win today, but not cleanly. She outlasted Mirra Andreeva 2-6, 7-6, 6-2 in the US Open quarter-finals on Wednesday, turning a match that looked to be slipping away into a place in the last four in New York.
For a player under the spotlight every time she steps into Arthur Ashe Stadium, that mattered immediately. Gauff had dropped the first four games and lost the opening set in 26 minutes, yet she kept going through a match that featured 12 double faults and 42 unforced errors. By the end, she had extended her 10-match winning streak and answered the question that drew so many readers in: yes, she advanced.
The win also sent her back to the US Open semi-finals for the first time since her grand slam breakthrough three years ago. That alone would have made the result notable, but the way she got there gave it more weight. Gauff said she was watching Frances Tiafoe on the same court a day earlier and took something from his recovery after he had been two sets down and two points from defeat against Alex Michelsen. She described the moment as a reminder that sometimes a player only needs a chance.
She needed one twice in the second-set tiebreaker. Gauff faced defeat points in that stretch, then reset and escaped, a reversal that changed the match. That was the clearest break in the flow after an opening set that lasted barely any time and made her body language look as if she might be headed out early.
The friction never fully disappeared. Gauff admitted the start was slow and said Andreeva was making her work for every point, while she was also giving away too many errors herself. Still, once the third set began, she said she felt confident she would finish it, and she did. The victory continues a late-summer run that has steadied her, including the title she won in Cincinnati, and it leaves her with one unanswered question: who she will face next in the semi-finals, a detail not yet stated here but now the only thing standing between her and another run at the trophy.
