Comeback queen Gauff into Rome semi-finals after battling past Andreeva

Coco Gauff earned yet another comeback win to reach the Italian Open semi-finals, though she needed five match points to see off Mirra Andreeva in an absorbing quarter-final.

Gauff, who dropped the opening set in her victories over Solana Sierra and Iva Jovic to get this far, endured another slow start on Tuesday (May 12).

The 2025 Roland-Garros champion gave up the first break in game three, and though she hit back to love in game six, her inconsistency on serve plagued her again in the very next game, with Andreeva restoring her advantage.

The eighth seed then held to love on two occasions to finish off the opener, but the second set was a different story as Gauff returned brilliantly, with breaks in games two and eight sending the contest the distance.

The decider started with a break apiece in the opening two games, but Gauff then stormed into a 5-1 lead and looked to be making light work of Andreeva.

However, the Russian grew in stature after recovering the first of those breaks, and though she faced a match point in each of the next two games, she held firm to battle back to 5-4.

But when serving to stay in the encounter, Andreeva became bogged down in an epic, seven-deuce game. Though she saved two more match points – the second with a downward smash at the net – it was fifth time lucky for Gauff thanks to an unforced Andreeva error.

Gauff will now face Sorana Cirstea for a place in the final, after the Romanian defeated Jelena Ostapenko 6-1 7-6 (7-0) in another quarter-final tie on Tuesday.

Coco Gauf: The Comeback queen does it again

Gauff has now won eight matches after losing the opening set on the WTA Tour this year, surpassing Andreeva and Jessica Pegula for the outright most by any player.

The American has now reached her fourth semi-finals in Rome (also 2021, 2024 and 2025), and in the Open Era, only Gabriela Sabatini (seven) has reached that stage more often before the age of 23 (also four for Martina Hingis).