World No. 2 Coco Gauff bested No. 8 Madison Keys in a hard-fought three-setter on Wednesday to clinch a berth in the 2025 French Open semifinal.
The All-American quarterfinal began with Gauff committing 11 unforced errors in the first five games, falling to a 4-1 deficit in the first set. Gauff’s early struggles were directly related to her lowering her racquet tension in anticipation of slower surface speed, after the Court Philippe-Chatrier roof was closed due to the chilly morning Paris weather.
Gauff made the necessary adjustments and won four straight games to lead 5-4 until Keys saved a set point and ultimately won the ensuing tiebreaker. At that point, it seemed like Keys, on an 11-game winning streak at majors dating back to her Australian Open victory, had the momentum on her side.
In the second set, it was Gauff’s turn to take a 4-1 lead, only for Keys to rattle off three straight games to tie things up. Gauff would respond with arguably the shot of the match — an angled backhanded winner — to secure a key break. Thereafter, she seized the momentum, winning eight of the next nine games to close out Keys, 6-7, 6-4, 6-1, and advance to the final four at Roland-Garros.
Gauff, who reached her first French Open semifinal in 2022, is now the youngest American in the Open Era to win 25 matches at the clay-court major, and the youngest overall since Martina Hingis. Furthermore, she’s the youngest American to reach back-to-back semifinals at Paris since Andrea Jaeger in 1982.
