Coco Gauff has played far cleaner matches than on Wednesday afternoon. But few players today on the women’s tour have become better at finding answers on the fly when almost nothing is working for them.
The 22-year-old American’s serene march through the US Open women’s draw hit extreme turbulence early in her quarter-final clash with fifth-seeded Mirra Andreeva inside Arthur Ashe Stadium. She dropped the first four games before surrendering the opening set in 26 minutes, ending a streak of 20 consecutive sets won dating back nearly a month. She piled up 12 double faults and 42 unforced errors, the majority off a forehand in open revolt. She found herself one point from defeat not once but twice during a hairy second-set tiebreaker.
But the fourth-seeded Gauff somehow wriggled free, prevailing 2-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2 over the reigning French Open champion to extend a 10-match winning streak and reach the last four in New York for the first time since her grand slam breakthrough three years ago.
“Yeah, I mean, it was a slow start,” Gauff said. “I thought Mirra was playing a great level to come out, wasn’t really making a lot of mistakes, and forcing me into some errors.
“I think I was also, like, giving away points too sometimes or trying to end the point early, because I felt the pressure from her. I was able to reset and somehow get out of that one.”
If she needed a template for the comeback, she had only to look back 24 hours. Gauff said she drew inspiration from Frances Tiafoe, who had recovered from two sets down and two points from going out against Alex Michelsen on the same court Tuesday to reach the men’s semi-finals.
“I was watching the end of that set, and it looked like he was down and out,” Gauff said. “And sometimes you just need a chance, and I think I got my chances today.”
Gauff said that she wasn’t yet contemplating how she might win the match. As she staved off elimination in a white-knuckle tiebreaker, her only concern was not losing it.
“I was just really determined to not lose that second set, because I felt like I worked so hard to give myself opportunities and lost them,” Gauff said. “One point turned into another. Honestly, once the third set started, I felt pretty confident that I was going to come out with that one.
“Sometimes you just need a little bit of inspiration, and Frances was that for me in that moment.”
Should she go on to lift the trophy, Gauff would become only the second woman in the Open era to win the US Open after saving match points – and the first since Martina Navratilova in 1986.
The result further burnished Gauff’s precocious record of deep runs at the grand slams. She has now reached seven major semi-finals before turning 23, a total surpassed only by Venus Williams (13) and Serena Williams (10) among active players at that age.
It was hardly a showcase for the reconstructed serve that has underpinned a late-summer resurgence that included her first title of the year in Cincinnati. But even a ragged serving performance like Wednesday’s offered evidence of how far her perspective has evolved.
A year after leaving the US Open with her serve and confidence in disarray, she believes she has acquired a broader understanding of the inevitable peaks and troughs of a career – and a deeper conviction that she can survive them.
“Sometimes you’re just so focused on the now, now, now, because you want it now,” Gauff said. “But in the grand scheme of things, I’m definitely sitting here with a different mindset and perspective than I was last year. If anything, it inspires me a little bit more to keep working, as I see how much I have improved in a year.
“So I’m like, OK, if I keep putting in the work and keep refining things, my serve has definitely gotten better. Even though my serve didn’t show up well, it’s OK. It will show up tomorrow.
“The fact that I’m also speaking like this is probably my worst service match, at 12 doubles in a three-setter, I probably would have taken that last year, like, so much.”
More than anything, Wednesday’s escape was the latest affirmation of the self-belief that has become her fallback when any of the technical elements of her game desert her.
“Honestly, just believing is all I can do,” she said. “I mean, the game may not always show up, but, you know, I can control the belief in myself.
“I think even if it’s delusional, I think the more instances that I keep showing up and maybe being successful in those moments, maybe that delusion will be more factual, I guess.”
Next up for Gauff is Elena Rybakina, the second seed who is set to become the new world No 1 after the tournament, in the nightcap of Thursday’s women’s semi-final twin bill. Gauff lost their most recent meeting in Toronto and knows exactly what awaits with a place in Saturday’s final on the line.
“I know I’m going to have some aces hit on me and some winners hit on me, but I’m going to keep fighting and give it my all,” she said. “That’s all I can do.”
