Coco Gauff's Remarkable Comeback to Reach US Open Semifinals

Coco Gauff walked to the chair at 2–6, 4–5, staring down defeat in Arthur Ashe Stadium. The defending US Open champion looked flat, out-hit, and one game away from the exit.

She is still in the tournament.

The American produced a fierce, stubborn comeback in New York, saving two match points and overturning a disastrous start to beat fifth seed Mirra Andreeva 2–6, 7–6 (9–7), 6–2 and reach the semifinals.

Andreeva’s blazing start

From the first ball, Andreeva owned the court. The Russian teenager ripped through the opening four games, pinning Gauff behind the baseline and silencing the crowd. Gauff, usually so secure, couldn’t land a punch: she failed to create a single break point in the first set and sprayed 14 unforced errors, almost triple Andreeva’s five.

The scoreboard told the story. The 2023 champion looked rushed, late on her forehand, and constantly a step behind as Andreeva closed out the set 6–2 with authority.

The match flips in a 39-shot rally

The second set turned into a scrap. Both players tightened and then cracked, exchanging breaks twice as nerves crept into their service games. Neither could fully pull away, and the tension dragged the set into a tiebreak.

That is where Gauff dug in.

On the longest rally of the match – 39 shots of pure grit – Gauff finally seized control with a precise backhand that clipped the line. It was a point that felt like a turning of the tide, not just a number on the scoreboard.

Andreeva still stood within touching distance of the semifinals, holding two match points. Gauff erased both, refusing to miss, refusing to back off. Each saved match point fed the crowd, and the noise swelled around her.

She edged the breaker 9–7, and the roar from Ashe sounded like a player reborn.

Champion’s response in the decider

Once the match hit a deciding set, Gauff’s body language changed. She stepped inside the baseline, took the ball earlier, and went after Andreeva’s serve.

The pressure told in the third game. Andreeva dropped serve, and Gauff finally had a lead to protect. She didn’t stop there. In the seventh game, she broke to love, a ruthless statement that underlined the shift in control.

Serving for the match, Gauff didn’t blink. A clean forehand sealed the comeback and the contest, completing a 2–6, 7–6 (9–7), 6–2 escape that had looked almost impossible an hour earlier.

Rybakina awaits

The reward is a heavyweight semifinal: Gauff will face second seed Elena Rybakina for a place in the final. One is the reigning champion, the other a Grand Slam winner with one of the biggest serves in the game.

Gauff has already survived a scare and the suffocating weight of defending a title on home soil. Now comes a different test: can she turn this escape into momentum and drive all the way back to the US Open trophy?